We won’t allow Kenya-Style Anarchy Protest -Military
The military has issued a strong warning against violence to the organisers of the next statewide protest against the country’s economic woes.
The military would not stand by and watch as Nigeria descends into chaos, warned Major General Edward Buba, Director of Defence Media Operations, during a news conference in Abuja on Thursday.
He implied that the protest organisers’ goal is to repeat the recent protest-turned-anarchy in Kenya, an East African nation.
Citizens have the freedom to voice their complaints, but the military will not tolerate violent protests or rallies, according to General Buba.
The military, he continued, has discovered plans by nefarious actors to incite violence during the demonstration, targeting innocent Nigerians and their businesses.
People should be able to peacefully protest, but they shouldn’t be able to organise for anarchy and terror.
“It is clear that the planned protest is meant to draw attention away from the ongoing and violent outrage in Kenya,” he stated.
“We can only describe the level of violence as a stage for anarchy.”
The military will not sit idly by while our country descends into chaos. Reason being, we have seen both order and chaos in the nations where we have worked, particularly during the ECOMOG (Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group) period and our peacekeeping missions in several nations.
He said that some people imagine war as if it were a movie, but they cannot imagine the devastation that actually occurs during a conflict.
Meanwhile, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), governors, and President Bola Tinubu have all pleaded with Nigerians to postpone the ‘End Bad Government’ rally that was supposed to take place next month.
The social media-driven demonstration against economic hardship will take place in August across all states of the Federation, including Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Those behind the protest have chosen to remain unidentified.
Due to the government’s twin policies of removing petrol subsidies and unifying FX windows, food and basic commodity prices have soared in recent months, causing one of the greatest inflation and economic crises in Nigeria.