Ahead of the anticipated nationwide protest, the national secretariat of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), has summoned its state chairmen across the 36 states in the Federation to an emergency meeting in Abuja on Friday.
National Chairman of the Party, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, presided over the meeting where the State Chairmen, particularly in APC-controlled states were told to make themselves available to their governors to stop the protests.
The meeting lasted for over four hours.
Felix Morka and Senator Ajibola Basiru, National Publicity Secretary and National Secretary, respectively, flanked by the State Chairmen addressed journalists.
Morka disclosed that the meeting acknowledged the current difficult situation that Nigerians are going through but however, resolved to stand with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Morka also expressed concern that the masterminds of the scheduled protest are faceless and could be nursing sinister motives.
He said:” At the meeting, we examined the current national situation, regarding planned protest around cost of living, scheduled to start on Ist August.
“We acknowledge the current difficult situation that people are living through.
“We stand firmly with the President on dealing with all the legitimate grievances.
“The government is doing all it could do and willing to do more.
“We identify with all eminent Nigerians who said the protest have failed and will do more damage to the country
We are calling on all our members to stand with the party and the government.
“The National Security Adviser has said this protest is liable to be misdirected to cause chaos.”
Morka who declared that it is the sacred responsibility of government, guaranteed to protect lives and property, said the present administration would do everything within the ambit of the law to save lives and property of Nigerians.
His counterpart, Senator Ajibola, in his contribution, dismissed the demands of the individuals behind the protest as political, maintaining that some of the demands would require amendment of the Constitution which he noted could not be effected in ten days, the scheduled timeline of the protests.
“The party was shocked that the title of the protest is #EndBadGovernance. What that connotes is they want to carry out a revolution.
“Yes, we recognize the right to peaceful protest, but the Constitution guarantees that the security of lives is the responsibility of government. We won’t sit back and allow the social infrastructures done by this administration to be destroyed.
“Even if we want to engage in dialogue, do we engage in dialogue with faceless people. ?It shows that they have sinister motive.
“Among their demands is the scrapping of the 1999 Constitution and a sovereign conference. That’s political. Constitutional amendment can’t be done by a presidential fiat. They are asking the President to do what it doesn’t have the power to do.
“There is an ongoing Constitutional amendment. Anybody interested in that should submit a memorandum. There is no need to hold the nation to ransom for ten days because of that.
“They are also asking for a new minimum wage. That has been addressed as the National Assembly has passed an enabling legislation for that. So, that demand is outdated and overtaken by event.
“They also talked about releasing the leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu. With respect, he is facing trial in court and he is being accorded fair trial.”
The APC National Secretary also disclosed that the organizers are demanding for probe of corrupt Nigerian leaders.
“We have the EFCC, ICPC and people are being tried and under Nigerian law, everyone is presumed innocent until proven otherwise.
“We took the conclusion that most of their demands are political and bother on red herring. “
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