The organisers of the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protests have expressed disappointment with President Bola Tinubu’s assertions during the nationwide broadcast speech.

The organisers said the president’s speech demonstrated that he is out of touch with reality in the country.

Addressing journalists in Abuja on Sunday, the National Coordinator of Youth Rights Campaign, Micheal Lenin, said the President only justified state violence on protesters and journalists and dismissed the demands of the protesters.

He said, “We wish to express our sadness and deep disappointment at the latest broadcast by President Tinubu, which is his first address to the nation on the #EndBadGovernance protests, after over three weeks since Nigerians started mobilizing to take to the streets and after scores of dead protesters and assaulted journalists from the first three days of the protests.

“Many had requested that the President should just address the nation when the protest was being mobilized and when it started to escalate, but most of us did not know that the President would only justify state violence on protesters and journalists while dismissing the demands of the protesters whenever he decides to speak. This, plus the failed attempt to co-opt the progressive and radical language of the protests, only shows how much President Tinubu is out of touch with the masses.”

Emiola Osifeso, representing the Take It Back Movement, stated that the president’s claim that the protests are politically motivated showed a deep disconnection from the masses.

Osifeso said the protest was the lawful response of the Nigerian people to the failure of the government to address the hardship experienced by the citizens.

He said, “The claim by President Tinubu that our protests are driven by a political agenda to tear Nigeria apart is nothing but an attempt to call a dog a bad name so that he can easily hang it. It is a gross misrepresentation of the obvious facts that have become the economic reality of all Nigerians.

“These protests have been largely faceless and leaderless because it was a spontaneous response of Nigerians triggered by the deep multidimensional poverty, sharp inequality, barbarous corruption and gross human rights abuses that we see every day before us.

“The protest was the lawful response of the Nigerian people to the failure of the Tinubu government to address these endemic systemic issues after over 14 months in power.

“These protests were mobilised for by the flagrant extravagance of political office holders in Nigeria for the past 14 months while asking Nigerians to be patient in our hunger and hardship – which they claim to be our sacrifice for the nation. It is almost better for the President to have kept silent than to make this kind of broadcast in which he continued his attitude of ignoring the legitimate grievances of the Nigerian people, by delegitimizing our protests as politically-motivated.”

Omole Ibukun, Initiator of Creative Change Centre, said the broadcast was filled with empty promises and vague assurances.

He said, “President Tinubu claimed to understand the pain and frustration driving our protests, yet the long broadcast was filled with empty promises and vague assurances. We must not forget that this same President and his ruling APC have deployed security forces, including the Army, the Police, and the DSS, to suppress the rights to dissent of protesters by using teargas on protesters, beating, injuring, arresting and killing scores of protesters.”

Ibukun stated that the economic achievements listed by the president were abstract and did not reflect the actual conditions in the country.

He said, “To further confirm that President Tinubu’s disconnection from the masses borders on psychopathy, the president started reeling out economic figures in the typical neoliberal attitude that prioritizes some abstract economic growth over the immediate welfare needs of the people.

“The broadcast further confirms how much the President is incapable of meeting the Nigerian masses at the point of their needs, but very capable of making policies that will benefit the private ‘investors’ of his elite clique at the expense of the public. The excess talks about economic growth and infrastructure development conveniently ignored the fact these benefits have not trickled down to the masses for 14 months now. This is why we are protesting.”

Ibukun added that “the President’s call for dialogue rings hollow as much as his acclaimed commitment to democratic governance, given the fact that he has not only ignored the demands of those he claims to want to dialogue with consistently, but he has also suppressed and disregarded the human rights of those he claims he wants to dialogue with.”

Lenin, however, said the protest would continue massively on Monday, calling on the citizens to come out in large numbers.

He said, “We, therefore, call on Nigerians, to come out in large numbers to continue these protests on Monday until our demands are met. The two-pronged approach of violence and propaganda has failed.

“The violence and repressions are just attempts to silence and control us, and the propaganda cannot sway or fool us. The struggle for a new and better Nigeria continues. We must not be tired.

“The future of Nigeria depends on our determination at this moment. We must continue to organize, resist and build till we have a country that prioritizes the people over the profit and power of a few people. The struggle continues!” (The PUNCH)

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