Hunger Protest Brings Back Tinubu’s Speech and People’s Reality: Peter Obi

Peter Obi, the presidential candidate for the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, has strongly condemned the Federal Government for their management of the launching of the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest for the demand to end hunger across the country. Obi made this call in a series of tweets on Monday and also asked Tinubu to “shed the dizzying company of sycophants and hire people who will give him the truth about Nigeria as it is.”

 

Many demonstrations have arisen with the problems stated by the demonstrators demanding requests to the Federal Government as the high cost of authorities, corruption, the continually increasing cost of living, and fuel subsidies.

 

President Tinubu, in his address on Sunday, urged the aggrieved parties to start dialoguing and put a stop to the protests that started on Thursday. He pledged that his government is willing to sit down with protesters and listen to their grievances, asserting that he has heard the protesters’ cries “loud and clear.”

 

Nevertheless, dissatisfaction’s indicators kept on increasing, and demonstrations are still going on even after Tinubu’s address in major cities of the country, including Lagos, Abuja, and Kaduna. In his response to Tinubu’s speech, Obi said: “It regrettably only seemed out of touch with the immediate concerns of the people and did not discuss some of the pivotal issues that started the protest in the first place. “Maybe Tinubu’s handlers do not read enough or have no idea how angry people are here at the moment, or perhaps they are deliberately blind,” the opposition candidate said.

 

“The President’s speech was historical; while people need solutions to the current problems, let him start with the cost of governance, measures against corruption, cost of living, and efficiency of resource allocation, especially in health, education, and poverty eradications,” said Obi.

 

Based on Obi’s words, the speech demanded the President announce war against insecurity, economy, poverty, unemployment, and the power sector for people to relate to it. He recommended that the President conduct briefings, at least once a quarter or even biannually, to inform the public about the administration’s economic developments, which is common practice in countries with similar issues.

 

But noting the President for speaking to the nation, albeit in a delay, Obi said this could have ended the incident as it was without leading to the unnecessary killing of innocent people, including the security personnel. He also noted that citizens did not vote for Tinubu to fix the nation immediately, but they hoped that he could “correct the issue of poor management of resources; exercise the act of cutting costs where possible; and address some of the issues ailing the nation, such as insecurity,” among others.

 

Obi also beckoned on the government to ‘unmask‘ anybody with criminal intentions of causing unrest in protest through looting and other vices, while at the same time keeping an eye on those with genuine intention of exercising their democracy right.  He also pointed out that he deliberately did not respond to the president’s speech immediately in order not to be seen as an attempt to influence the consciousness of the people, more so having been accused of sponsoring.