Plateau youths opt out of protest

From Jude Owuamanam, Jos

A group, Plateau State Progressive Youth Alliance, has dissociated itself from the planned national protest in Nigeria. The youths, addressing newsmen in Jos on Friday, said that though the protest is a legitimate rights of Nigerians to ventilate and air their grievances, they have credible information that there were plans by hoodlums to  hijack the protest as was done during the Endsars protest.

In the text of the briefing entitled ‘Disengagement From Call for National Protest in Plateau State’ and read by their spokesperson, David Yakubu James, the youths said that the only way they could participate is if the children of the President, the Vice President and all the ministers express their interest to participate.

“Our reasons for disengaging from the planned national protest are as follows: Planned to hijack the national protest, ethnicity and religion, and safety of lives and properties.

They however gave a list of demands to the president. These include “End bad governance in Nigeria, end untold hardship in Nigeria, pronouncement on price control on food and order excise commodities, end to fuel subsidy, insecurity, stop international loans (borrowing) and reduce tertiary institution fees so that a child of a common man will have access to education in our father land.”