The Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, RULAAC has described Saturday’s address to protesters by President Bola Tinubu, as belated, defensive, and lacking, in solutions to the demands of Nigerians who are protesting.
On Sunday, President Tinubu in an address titled ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, called on the protesters and the sponsors to shelve the ongoing protests which have gained momentum in parts of the North and South.
The president had solicited the protesters to create room for dialogue, assuring that his government was open and transparent.
But in a chat with a TNC correspondent in Awka, the Executive Director of RULAAC, Comrade Okechukwu Nwanguma, observed that the president’s address sounded perfunctory and appeared to have been hurriedly put up, just to fulfill all righteousness.
Nwanguma believed that the teething challenges that were driving the protest were not addressed in the President’s broadcast and that the President should have gone beyond commiserating with those who lost their lives in the protest, to ordering investigations into their killings.
“The President’s broadcast, while belated, sounded perfunctory and defensive.
“He appeared to have made the broadcast just to fulfill all righteousness as he did not address concrete issues contained in the genuine demands of the protesters.
“I had expected the president to go beyond commiserating with families of those who were killed to order an investigation into their killing.
“The law requires that investigations should be ordered into all cases of unlawful killing with a view to identifying, trying, and bringing the perpetrators to account and compensating the families of the victims. They didn’t just die. They were killed. A government that cares will require an inquest into every killing and direct accountability on the part of whoever – protester or security agent – shown to have been involved.
“The President also claimed that the oil and gas industry is experiencing a resurgence. But how has this impacted economic growth and in the lives of the people?
“The broadcast is entirely silent on corruption, extravagant lifestyle, and conspicuous consumption by his coterie, including by the national assembly. It did not mention the cost of government or the implementation of the Oronsanye Report. Couldn’t he have made the concession of reducing the number of federal ministries, many of which are not only dysfunctional but also contributing to wastage?
“He also made no comment about nepotism and the use of public offices as avenues of compensation and ‘settlement’ for political allies,” Nwanguma insisted.
The RULAAC boss, however, noted that one positive from the address was where the President spoke about people promoting ethnic hate, discrimination, and bigotry, but expressed concerns that no action was directed against such acts.
“One area he mentioned that sounded positive was about the people promoting ethnic hate, discrimination, and bigotry. But he fell short by failing to order the arrest and prosecution of the promoters of bigotry since they are well known.
“In fact, some of his official spokespersons have been openly involved in promoting bigotry. They carried it over from the last governorship election in Lagos State when well-known ethnic bigots threatened and attacked non-indigenes and got away with it.
“While appearing to be open to dialogue, the President did not provide any avenue, channel, or mechanism for engagement and dialogue with the people.
“He also did not respond directly to the people’s demands nor provided timelines for meeting the specific demands.
“The president missed the opportunity to demonstrate genuine empathy and assuage the grievances of the people,” Nwanguma posited.
