The Pan Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, represented by Publicity Secretary Justice Faloye, has clarified that while the organisation does not plan to participate in the planned nationwide protest, it supports individuals exercising their fundamental rights to protest.
In an interview with ARISE NEWS on Thursday, Faloye emphasised that their stance is rooted in the longstanding concerns over Nigeria’s economic policies, which they believe are flawed and ineffective.
“Afenifere is not planning to be a part of the protest but we support anybody who wants to protest. I mean, it is their fundamental human rights and because we in Afenifere has been warning about the economic policies and that if you continue with the subisdies and high inflations, there is no way you can stop people, especially when they look at what is on the table, they realise there is nothing for them and you say give us some time. Time for what?
“Right from the beginning, we have shown you that you have gone on the wrong path. Afenifere has been saying we need economic, political of this country. But all we have is palliatives and superficial moves that we know cannot resolve anything. So, we are not sponsoring the protest but we support it. We understand that this is an organic reaction.”
Addressing concerns about anarchy and potential violence during protests, Faloye stated that history has shown that protests often become violent when the government attempts to suppress them.
While stressing that the root of the protests is rather economical and not political, he urged the government to address the economic issues at hand rather than resorting to forceful measures.
“Talking about the anarchy, we don’t believe that people will come out and start burning. We have seen years and years of protests and we realised that it becomes violent when the government tries to stop it. It is when you want to force the people that things will just explode.
“So, the anarchy is actually the government that needs to be pleaded with because the body language of accusing or making it political; this is not a political issue but an economic issue”
The Afenifere spokesperson further highlighted the need for a comprehensive economic restructuring, pointing out that the current policies are theories that have failed in other black countries.
He expressed dissatisfaction with the administration’s approach to infrastructure development, advocating for a focus on heavy manufacturing and a comprehensive railway complex to stimulate economic growth.
“There is nothing we can do immediately because we have a rotten economy. I mean the fundamentals of the economy and the political system needs to be changed. We want to see economic restructure. We want him to build meaningful infrastructure.
“We believe that for Nigeria, we need heavy manufacturing jobs and the only way you can get heavy manufacturing jobs like other industrialised countries, is to build a full railway complex because that is the largest iron and plastic business which now has the highest multiplier effect.”
Regarding a recent press statement from Afenifere that congratulated the president on a Supreme Court victory related to local government autonomy, Faloye denied the organisation’s endorsement. He criticised the move as contrary to Afenifere’s beliefs, which support the evolution of power and advocate for a different approach to local governance.
Faloye argued that the congratulatory statement came from individuals aligned with the administration for ethnic reasons rather than genuine support.
“That is not us. We are against it because we believe that he is moving away. We believe in the evolution of power and we believe that this local government autonomy is moving in the wrong direction. The local government should actually be scrapped. Those congratulating him are those who rather moved closer to the administration based on ethnicity.”
Chioma Kalu
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