Protest: Suffering not only in Nigeria, don’t destroy public assets, Ooni tells Nigerians

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, has weighed in on the planned nationwide protest against hunger.

Nigerians, many of them young people, have called for demonstrations from August 1 over soaring costs.

Living costs spiked in Nigeria after President Bola Tinubu ended the fuel subsidy and eased foreign exchange controls after coming to power in May last year.

Inflation hit record levels at 34.19 per cent in June, with food inflation more than 40.87 per cent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

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The police, military and the Department of State Services (DSS) have warned against Kenya-styled protests.

Politicians, who surmised that the planned rallies might end up like the EndSARS demonstrations of October 2020, have continued to appeal to youths to shelve the planned rallies but the young people remain unfazed, doggedly insisting that the protests will hold.

Speaking Tuesday on Channels TV’s Politics Today, Oba Ogunwusi while recognising Nigerians’ right to protest, said it must be peaceful, warning that government’s property should not be destroyed.

The monarch described the economic hardship being felt in the country as a “global phenomenon” hence the President Tinubu administration should be given time to correct the inflationary anomalies.

He said: “We traditional rulers never said people should not go to the streets to demonstrate, it is their right. Even our political leaders confirmed that they can do so. Myself, the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Saad Abubakar III; and other traditional leaders across the country, met Mr President some days ago and we had a very good meeting

“The agitation is real. We know we have a lot of suffering in the country and it’s not only Nigeria. We have global inflation and it is everywhere, not only in Nigeria. If it were only in Nigeria, we would have been more worried, but what we traditional rulers are after is that our country should not be destroyed by us. It is a global phenomenon, we should be very sensitive about it, we should be very mindful of our country more than anything.

“We should focus on true patriotism and also we that are the owners of the country and all the people of Nigeria are also the problem. We are traditional rulers, we must ensure public assets are not destroyed and we must appeal so that they can give the current government a little bit of time to correct since it’s a global thing.”