Senate President Godswill Akpabio has accused #EndBadGovernance protest organizers of plotting to “loot” during their planned nationwide demonstrations.
Addressing the press after President Bola Tinubu signed the N70,000 minimum wage bill into a law on Monday, Mr Akpabio said, “I want to use this opportunity to call on those who are attempting to foment trouble, that you have a right to protest.”
He added, “It’s your fundamental right. It is there in the Constitution. But you don’t have a right to destabilize the country. A right to protest should not be turned into a right to unleash violence.
“It’s very clear that people who are already, it’s already very amorphous, very faceless. So what it means is that people are preparing to loot and go around and do all sorts of things.”
Mr Akpabio attributed food crisis in the country to years of insecurity across the country.
“Where we are today was not caused by one year’s administration. It is the outcome of years of insecurity,” stated the head of the Senate. “Many people could not go to farms for almost ten years and all that. And the president has risen to the occasion.”
Mr Akpabio’s comments regarding the forthcoming protests, in response to economic difficulties under Mr Tinubu’s administration, reflect the government’s pushback against the demonstrations.
Before Mr Akpabio’s statement, Vice-President Kashim Shettima had disparaged the protest organisers and their sympathisers, referring to them as “bandits and idiots.”
