President Bola Tinubu on Sunday urged protesters in the ongoing #EndBadGovernace protests to stop the demonstrations and create room for dialogue.
The president who stated this in a nationwide broadcast to the nation said “ Under the circumstances, I hereby enjoin protesters and the organisers to suspend any further protest and create room for dialogue, which I have always acceded to at the slightest opportunity”
Protests broke out across the nation on August 1 to draw attention to growing hunger and sufferings in the land. The protests turned violent in some cities with hoodlums looting government property.
Police and other security agencies also had a clash with the protesters who were fired at with live ammunitions and teargas.
There were also reports of killings during the protests. While Amnesty international put the number of deaths at 13, the police said it was seven.
Addressing the protest, Tinubu during his broadcast, said he was pained by the “turmoil and violent protests unleashed in some of our states”.
He noted that among the protesters were young Nigerians who desired a better and more progressive country where their dreams, hopes, and personal aspirations would be fulfilled.
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“I am especially pained by the loss of lives in Borno, Jigawa, Kano, Kaduna and other states, the destruction of public facilities in some states, and the wanton looting of supermarkets and shops, contrary to the promise of protest organisers that the protest would be peaceful across the country. The destruction of properties sets us back as a nation, as scarce resources will be again used to restore them.
“….We must stop further bloodshed, violence and destruction”.
He further stated that his government will not stand idly by and allow a few people with a clear political agenda to tear this nation apart.
Tinubu also justified the economic policies implemented by his administration so far, especially on fuel subsidy removal.
“Just over a year ago, our dear country, Nigeria, reached a point where we couldn’t afford to continue the use of temporary solutions to solve long-term problems for the sake of now and our unborn generations.
“I therefore took the painful yet necessary decision to remove fuel subsidies and abolish multiple foreign exchange systems which had constituted a noose around the economic jugular of our Nation and impeded our economic development and progress.
“These actions blocked the greed and the profits that smugglers and rent-seekers made. They also blocked the undue subsidies we had extended to our neighbouring countries to the detriment of our people, rendering our economy prostrate. These decisions I made were necessary if we must reverse the decades of economic mismanagement that didn’t serve us well”.
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