Organizers of the planned nationwide protest, scheduled for August 1 to August 10, have unveiled their key demands from President Bola Tinubu’s government.
Among other things, the intending protesters want the FG to return the fuel subsidy, address issues in the power sector, release the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu from the custody of the Department of State Services, DSS, and allow for diaspora voting during general elections.
The government has appealed to young Nigerians not to allow themselves to be drawn into any form of demonstrations, saying it is doing all it can to ease the economic hard ship the country is facing.
The said list comprises of nearly twenty different demands, some of which are sure to raise eyebrows.
They include among other things, the return of the fuel subsidy, fixing the power sector, release the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu from the custody of the DSS and scrapping the Nigerian Senate entirely.
Others demands include replacing the 1999 constitution with a people-made, Pay Nigerian workers a minimum wage of nothing less than N250,000 monthly. Invest heavily in education and probe past and present Nigerian leaders, who have looted the treasury.
The list which was released by the former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress,k Omoyele Sowore, who is one of the organizers of the movement has been seen by AIT, also includes demands like the restructuring of Nigeria to accommodate Nigeria’s diversity, ending banditry, terrorism and violent crimes.
Reform security agencies to stop continuous human rights violations and the immediate reconstitution of the electoral body, INEC to remove corrupt individuals and partisan hacks appointed to manipulate elections.
President Bola Tinubu has appealed to Nigerians to shelve the planned protest, urging youths to keep faith and believe in the ability of his administration to transform Nigeria.
The government’s response to these demands would probably be that they are already tackling many issues on the list with the benefits only becoming apparent, in the medium to long-term.
[AIT]
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