PRESS RELEASE
…urges Nigerians not to participate in the protest
…accuses organisers for non-disclosure of financial inducement by divisive politician
We say NO to the planned October 1st protest being orchestrated by some rogue politicians and discredited cash and carry NGOs and self-styled activists and non-state actors with the solid aim of destabilization agenda. The organisers have collected huge sums of money from a divisive North West Governor for the purpose of purveying their hidden agenda to unsuspecting Nigerian citizens. The plan to invade Eagle Square, critical infrastructures and other national monuments is nothing other than an invitation to anarchy. Every patriotic Nigerian must resist these protesters of fortune and madness if we truly want democracy, peace and unity to prevail in our country as it is just 16 months since the present administration came on board.
It is our firm belief that democracy cannot endure unless political opponents develop a culture of endurance and persistence of using the ballot box/electoral exercise to change things perceived to be going wrong during the next general election. Resorting to desperation and other divisive shenanigans under whatever guise is unacceptable to Nigerians and friends of Nigeria.
Instead of funding all manners of misplaced protest embedded with an agenda to destabilise the country because some of them have either been defeated at polls or lost out in the scheme of things. They should endure to learn from the likes of Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Governor Isa Yuguda, Governor Aliyu Magatakarda Wammako, Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima, Governor Dauda Lawal, Governor Seyi Makinde and Dr Alex Otti among others. These are political leaders that were once in the opposition but patiently reclaimed their respective states through doggedness, meticulous planning, patience and endurance using every opportunity provided by democratic principles devoid of mayhem and destructive tendencies.
We must admit that Nigerians are going through a lot of hardship due to hunger and unusual hyper-inflation, as a result of lack of proper planning and failed policies of the past governments. But we must also admit that participation in any form of protest being bankrolled to destroy our country by a former Governor who plunged his state into unimaginable debts for generations yet unborn can never be the solution to our problems. The truth is that the local rice producers and essential commodity traders who are in the habit of arbitrarily increasing prices of goods and services are responsible for the predicament Nigerians are passing through. The same cabal of rice producers including opposition politicians and former Governors that got waivers on importations of fertilizers and other agricultural related implements are the brains behind the astronomical cost of living being witnessed in our country. This means that, we as patriotic Nigerians, must squarely put the blame at their doorstep, thereby making them accountable to the suffering of millions of our citizens. They are solely responsible for the hardship, hunger and hoarding of foodstuff in our country.
Equally, we have received critical actionable intelligence on the foreign funding given to some select NGOs under the guise of protecting democracy, free speech, lawful assembly and such mundane and induced nomenclatures. We must remind everyone that late Gani Fawehinmi of blessed memory never collected a dime from any foreign donor agency or domestic rogue politicians throughout the struggles he superintended. We must posit that anyone hiding behind transactional protest to cause breakdown of law and order is a security risk. Therefore, relevant security agencies must deal with the shadowy characters involved for premeditated espionage activities and actions capable of undermining the sovereignty of our country, including those hiding under the guise of mediators, lawyers and interlopers who are themselves involved in the clandestine plot, that they will have themselves to blame.
The Amalgamated CSOs of Nigeria (ACN) will not be a party to subterranean plot by politicians masquerading as champions of democratic ethos in a grand design to cause unimaginable crisis in our country during our independence anniversary celebrations. We have resolved to declare organisers of the planned protest that collected money from politicians without disclosing such transaction to other stakeholders persona non grata from tomorrow. We have established that they are nothing but usurpers using the cover of protest to enrich themselves, implement a partisan plot and above all unleash lawlessness and anarchy in our land.
Our country paid a huge price during the protest organised by same agents of destabilization, stagnation and decline about two months ago. This time around they have sworn to cause bigger havoc of unimaginable proposition hoping to take advantage of the present situation thereby distracting the government and relevant security agencies from accomplishing a breakthrough against terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and divisive forces ravaging our country for one and a half decades now.
We frown and condemn antics of the sponsors of the planned protest in unmistakable terms. Their agenda is to precipitate crisis in the country, giving room for looting, arson, destruction, blood-letting and unwarranted killings. Their primary tools in this misadventure protest are espionage, subversion, sabotage and insidious attacks against innocent citizens, private businesses, national infrastructures and assets. Let us call a spade a spade for once.
Let no one doubt our resolve to resist the hands of desperate politicians that have infiltrated and hijacked the planned protest from the peaceful owners that wanted to restrict the agitation to press conferences and television appearances. For failing to appreciate our wise counsel, there will be no sitting on the fence. As far as the situation is concerned, the hijackers have now thrown a life line for Nigerians to reject the plot of the evil doers hiding behind the protest. The sponsors of the protest should blame themselves for the backlash and whatever ugly outcome that may likely transpire during their protest.
The Southwest Governor and politically disgruntled and misguided elements in this campaign of calumny and mischief against the present administration will surely, and in due season, reap the results of their evil agenda by facing the anti-graft agencies for plundering his state into poverty and making the Northwestern states a hostile region.
Comrade Gbenga Ashiru Abiodun
National President
Comrade Yakubu Abdullahi
General Secretary