In a swift reaction to a report that youths have backed down from the August 1 nationwide protest, saying President Bola Tinubu is committed to addressing the challenges plaguing the country, one of the arrowheads of the protest, Deji Adeyanju, said Thursday morning the protest is commencing nationwide as planned and nothing like youths calling off the protest.
According to reports, youth groups under the auspices of Rising Up for a United Nigeria in a communiqué allegedly called off the protest following a decision after a meeting held in Abuja.
Adeyanju said, “None of the organisers have pulled out of the protest. The people pulling out are just people who have gone to collect money. They were never part of the protest initially.”
Meanwhile, it will be recalled that he maintained that there is no going back on the protest following the readiness of Nigerians across the country to join the peaceful protest, and he advised Nigerians who want to be part of the protest to remain peaceful during the protest.
He also disclosed a letter written and addressed to the Chief of Army Staff, dated July 30, 2024, with subject ‘Request to Restrict Men of the Nigerian Army to the Barracks During the Scheduled August 2024 National Protest’, in which he said, “We have just written to the Chief of Army Staff to ensure soldiers remain in the barracks during the protest to prevent a repeat of the killing of protesters like during EndSARS.”
In a related development on Wednesday, Justice Sylvanus Oriji of a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, issued an ex-parte order restricting Abuja protesters to the National Stadium, otherwise known as the MKO Abiola Stadium.
(Vanguard)