By UCHENNA ELETUO

The Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Most. Rev. Adewale Martins, on Saturday cautioned against ethnic profiling as the #EndBadGovernance nationwide protest continues.

Martins made this known in a statement signed by the Director of Social Communication of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, Rev. Fr. Anthony Godonu.

The cleric said that hate speech would not do Nigeria any good and should be avoided.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the protest, which began on Thursday, planned to end on Aug. 10.

It is aimed at drawing Federal Government’s attention to the economic hardship facing Nigerians.

Martins acknowledged that there was poverty and hunger in Nigeria but called for peaceful.

He urged Nigerians to exercise restraint in expressing their anger to avoid breaching other people’s rights.

He said that there was right to peaceful protest to draw attention to concerns.

He called on the protesters to be peaceful and prevent mischief makers and haters from infiltrate them.

“Fuelling ethnic bigotry should be seen as the hand of the fourth columnists in the struggle, and should be rejected.

“Such a shameful distraction is counter-productive at a time when the collective effort should be to fight against hunger and poverty that do not know ethnic origin or tribal affiliation,” he said.

He said there was need for political leaders across the three tiers of government to address the root cause of the protest.

“There is no doubt that there is much hunger in the land. People are falling sick and dying out of poverty and inability to procure medicine and pay hospital bills.

“They have difficulty in paying school fees of their children, and the costs of food and electricity are on the rise,” the bishop said.

He appealed to the federal and state governments to initiate policies that would have direct positive impact on the masses particularly in the area of food production.

The cleric urged security operatives to be professional in handling the protesters.

He praised those who had conducted themselves well, and expressed sadness at the loss of lives in some states where the protest recorded violence. (NAN)

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