Former Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Mike Ejiofor, has urged caution regarding planned protests in Nigeria, emphasising that no matter how good the intentions of the protesters are, he believes that the protests “will be hijacked eventually.”
Ejiofor made these remarks during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Friday while speaking about the proposed nationwide protest scheduled to hold between August 1 and 15 against the rising cost of living and economic hardship in the country.
He said, “I think they did us a lot of good by giving sufficient notice to the government of the intentions to go on a protest. No matter how good their intentions are, I believe that this will be hijacked eventually. Remember what happened at End SARS and the amount of properties destroyed and the loss the nation and individuals even incurred.”
Ejiofor acknowledged the severe economic hardship, hunger, and anger present in the country but warned that these conditions could lead to opportunistic looting and violence. “People who are more hungry now will exploit the opportunity to loot people’s shops, and it will eventually turn violent,” he said.
The former DSS director reaffirmed the citizens’ right to protest but stressed the government’s duty to protect the people. “Citizens have the right to protest. Nobody is saying they should not protest, but again, if you protest and it turns violent, the government has the statutory mandate of protecting innocent citizens,” he said.
Ejiofor appealed to the protest organisers to reconsider their plans and allow the government time to address their concerns. He noted that President Bola Tinubu has been consulting with various interest groups, including governors, party leaders, religious leaders, and traditional rulers. He however urged the president to communicate directly with the public to ensure everyone is informed about the government’s efforts.
“Fortunately, the president is consulting various interest groups. He has met with governors, he has met with party leaders, he has met with religious leaders and traditional rulers and so on. It’s only wise that the government is given time to look at this. And the president should not only stop at consulting these various interest groups. The ordinary man in the streets also needs to know what is happening because some people don’t even have electricity to look at television to know what is going on even though social media is helping to propagate these news items. I think the president needs to directly speak to the people. Maybe making a national broadcast. I believe that in Nigeria, If we have any protest that will turn violent, we will be worse for it and the country will be worse for it. So, there is a need to give time to the government.”
He also highlighted the significant security challenges Nigeria currently faces and warned against exacerbating these issues through protests. “It is necessary that for now, because of the enormous security challenges that we have, we should not compound our problems by engaging in more protests,” Ejiofor asserted.
Melissa Enoch
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