Ex-People’s Democratic Party’s 2023 Presidential Campaign Spokesman, Daniel Bwala, Wednesday expressed concerns over the planned nationwide protests, warning against its being turned violent.
Bwala also inferred that the planned protest against the present government at the centre have political undertones and possibly foreign interests.
Addressing newsmen at the State House, Abuja after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu, Bwala expressed optimism that the proposed protests are not solely driven by genuine concerns over economic hardship.
His concern followed recent open declaration of support for the protest by the presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, whose campaigns the Bwala was spokesman for.
He affirmed that though protests are constitutional, but there is the need for peaceful demonstrations and cited social media posts and intelligence reports suggesting a violent tone to the protests, which could lead to a breakdown of law and order.
Bwala made reference to Section 45 of the Nigerian Constitution, which allows for laws to be made to abridge rights in the interest of public safety, protection of life, and national security.
On what he would tell Atiku if he were to advise him on his position, Bwala said “every opposition member will want to support any action of the people that will ridicule, denigrate or show the governing party as not effective. So it is not surprising that he could say that.
“Again, like we say, protest is constitutional. Our only concern is if the protests will be peaceful, then no problem. But evidence is showing that this protest is building up to be violent and we are all seated here. There is a way to which this protest will take a violent turn that you will not be here. So that is the only part that I disagree with.
“So yes, if I’ll be speaking with him, I will tell him that the reason why we think that the protest is unnecessary is because this protest, based on the foundation that it is building in the social media where people say ‘burn their house’, ‘destroy this, ‘I will kill this person’ and the rest, and based on intelligence, it is built to be violent.
“I will tell him that section 45 of the Constitution of Nigeria says nothing will preclude sections 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, those rights that are outlined, it said nothing will stop or invalidate any law that is made that is reasonably justified in a democratic society, meaning that your right to protest, if it’s going to turn violent, will not preclude or will not invalidate any law that can be made to abridge that right in the interest of…if you look at Section 46, the interest of public safety or protection of the life of others and national security”.
He also insinuated that the planned protests against the current administration have political undertones and foreign interests.
Bwala claimed that the situation even transcends the country, hinting at possible foreign involvement taking advantage of Nigeria’s current economic challenges.
According to him, while Nigerians have the constitutional right to protest, the current planned demonstrations could potentially turn violent.
He warned that such an outcome could lead to the destruction of property and infrastructure, ultimately harming the very people the protests claim to support.
The former PDP spokesman highlighted what he sees as politically motivated language surrounding the protests.
His words: “I honestly believe that there is to a large extent the element of politics and my belief that it even transcends the country there.
“There would have been foreign interest but taken advantage of the poor political climate because of the fact of hunger and suffering. We know that everybody in Nigeria acknowledges that there is suffering and the suffering did not start last year.
“We’ve been dealing with that issue, you know of suffering, you know, lack of employment we’re talking about enterpreneurship, virtually every aspect of the economy and security is what we have always been pushing the envelope and see how we can attain a better place.
“But suddenly, the conversation if you see the mainstream and social media is all about, they want to bring the government down, President bola Tinubu must resign.
“Once you hear that kind of talk and language, then you don’t need somebody to interpret that there is a political connotation. You must be aware that people have been holding meetings saying they want to unseat the President.
“By our Constitution he has four years and it’s renewable for another term or four years. And he’s doing everything possible. In these four years to deliver on the promise to the Nigerian people, the trajectory are going some of you who are knowledgeable in economics, you would have seen as the data are coming in and some of the indices, it shows that there is a redirection that is going on.
“There is no reform that is easy. Go to Brazil, any part of the world if you’re going to do reform, it is not going to be easy.
“It means that all of us will have to readjust, but the government’s role when you are initiating reform is to bring about intervention, which is what the President is doing, like the release of truckloads of food and then given monies to remember the increased allocation to the governors additional money to the governors.
“He even committed to helping the organized private sector to meet up with the minimum wage. So this is my immediate reaction to the question”, he said.
Bwala also highlighted several key initiatives undertaken by President Tinubu in response to mounting public pressure and planned protests to include enactment of a new minimum wage law,distribution of food aid to address hunger concerns, implementation of local government autonomy to improve grassroots governance and efforts to enhance primary healthcare, education, and local security.
He described these actions as “good steps” towards addressing the grievances of Nigerian citizens.
Deji Elumoye
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