The Amnesty International has warned against threatening protesters, saying doing so would undermine the legacy of President Bola Tinubu.
Since the ‘End bad governance in Nigeria’ started gaining traction on social media, many top government officials have advised against the demonstrations, arguing that the protest could be hijacked by hoodlums.
They urged the citizens to have faith in the current administration, noting that the President is committed to addressing the welfare and concerns of Nigerians.
However, the Chairman, of Amnesty International in Nigeria, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, commended security agencies for democratically conducting themselves.
“For anybody to come and say what you are doing is illegal or we will deal with you when you do that, you are actually undermining the President who so much believes in the democratic tenets,” he said on Channels Television’s Dateline Abuja which aired on Saturday.
“Let me thank the security agencies for realising that the initial threats they were making to brutally deal with protesters, especially peaceful protesters were actually undermining the integrity of the Tinubu administration,” he said.
“They were making democratic reversal as the President himself is someone who believes in democracy and democracy gives opportunity for people to express themselves lawfully, peaceful.”
The protest is scheduled to be held from August 1 and end on August 10 across the 36 states of the federation and the nation’s capital.
Already, security agencies have held a meeting with President Tinubu rallying around traditional rulers, governors, and religious and opinion leaders.
The protesters are hell-bent on storming the states to register their grievances over the high cost of living, poverty index, and worsening inflation figures among other economic indices.
Security agencies are worried that the protest could be marred by violence as characterised in the #EndSARS protest of October 2020 that called for police reforms among other demands.
Amid these concerns, the Amnesty International boss believes that violence is never a solution.
He called on the government and security agencies to provide security cover to the protest to avoid a situation whereby hoodlums could take advantage of the situation.
“Both myself as an individual and the organisations that I represent do not believe in any violence because violence is not a solution. However, we insist and believe that the government has the duty to protect the protest itself because it is part of the democratic tenet.
“The President knows very well as a democrat, as somebody who participated in previous protests, he knows the value and importance.
“What I think is happening now is the international community and Nigerians are watching and seeing these utterances by hired people to bring religious connotation to it,” he said.
Peoplesmind
