The United Action Front of Civil Society has announced plans to monitor a nationwide citizens’ protest scheduled for August 1st to 10th, charging the Tinubu government to yield to the people’s demand for pro-people policies.
In a press statement signed by Olawale Okunniyi, Head, Coordinating Secretariat
United Action Front of Civil Society on Friday, the civil society group accused the government of deploying “blame game and blackmail tactics” to intimidate Nigerians out of the planned protest instead of addressing the “unbearable economic situation” that necessitated the action.
The group lambasted President Bola Tinubu, whom it described as a “product of our pro-democracy struggles against the military,” for presiding over “anti-people and anti-democratic rule” that has “deepened the economic hardship and sufferings of Nigerians.”
“As vanguard of democracy in Nigeria, which the Tinubu government has refused to listen to its various appeals for good governance and pro people’s policies, we wish to throw our weight behind the planned peaceful nationwide citizens’ Protest to compel government to hearken to the voice and demand of the people for the amelioration of the sufferings and hardships in the land,” the statement read.
The civil society group demanded the immediate reversal of the fuel price to ₦167 per liter, describing the government’s “subsidy has gone” directive as a ploy to entrench a “corrupt system of palliatives.”
“We wish to inform Nigerians that the organised Civil Society as the conscience of the Nation is set to monitor the planned Nationwide Citizens’ Action in ensuring and assessing compliance with ethics of civil protest, especially on the side of security agents,” the statement added.
The group warned the government and security agents against trying to “forcefully stop or frustrate the peaceful protest of the citizens of Nigeria,” stressing that civil protest is a constitutional right and a “universal democratic tool to negotiate good governance.”
