FG Moves To Stop #FearlessInOctober Protests

The Federal Government has disclosed that it is talking to organisers of the proposed #FearlessInOctober, mass protest with a view to reaching an understanding with them before October 1.

Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said the security agencies are already engaging some of the organisers.

“Government is not against any peaceful protest by Nigerians. After all, it is their fundamental right to stage any protest.

“But government is always apprehensive about such protests degenerating into a riot as we experienced in August or the 2020 EndSARS protest in many parts of the country.

“Security agencies have been discussing with some of the organisers and they are being monitored so that they do not plunge the country into chaos or allow themselves to be used by internal and external forces which want to subvert the country and the 16-month-old administration”, he said.

READ ALSO

●10 Things To Know About #FearlessInOctober Protests

●FG To Toll Lagos-Ibadan, Abuja-Kano, Other Roads

Onanuga added that the Tinubu administration has always acknowledged the difficulties citizens are facing, adding that hard times are transient as the economic reforms being implemented have started to yield dividends, based on economic indicators published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

“The government wishes to assure Nigerians that there is already light at the end of the tunnel and seeks the patience and understanding of our compatriots,” he said.

However, the organisers insisted that the protest would hold and that there is no going back.

Political activist, Omoyele Sowore, who has been at the forefront of calls for the planned mass action, said: “I can tell you that there will be protests. I can also confirm to you that I will be out there on the protest lines, joining my voice to that of other Nigerian patriots, to denounce the anti-people policies of this government.”