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Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State has advised those planning to protest against the President Bola Tinubu administration to shelve the idea, saying it is too early for such.
Addressing State House Reporters after presenting the former Senate President Pius Anyim to, on Wednesday, Uzodimma said the South East Governors were against the protest because it can be hijacked.
He also said those planning the protest have failed to come out and tell Nigerians why they want to take to the streets.
He said, “Democracy is about opinion of the people and protest is allowed in a democratic setting. Every protest must be reasonably conceived to be able to make political sense. I think it’s too early at this time in the life of this government for anybody to come out to say he wants to protest.
“First of all, there has not been any engagement where those who are sponsoring the protest were able to tell us the reasons for the protests. Secondly, given the global situation today and the insecurity in the country, we have a very fragile political environment that if not managed and protected very well, may collapse the entire country.
“So those who are going to protest, what is the reason for the protests, and if they have no reason for the protests, I think our advise as well-meaning Nigerians, is for them to shelve it.”
He also insisted that it was a wrong time for anybody to protests “because the implication of doing that, if care is not taken, is that it may be hijacked, like the #EndSARS experience where criminals now hijacked an innocently conceived agitation by young Nigerians.
“So this is another kind of temptation? I think those behind the protests have not been able to come out openly to say they’re behind it, there is a motive that is yet to be unraveled?
“So I think that we are not in support of the protest, we are not going to support any protest that has no programme, that is not discussed that nobody knows what the problem is. Okay, if you are protesting, what do you want government to do? Because the reason for protests is that they want an issue to be addressed. What are the issues?
“So in my view, I think there is no need to overheat the polity, overheat our environment and put our people in a position that the hardship that is occasioned by economic recession all over the world is further worsened. So I advise against the protests
