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From Fred Itua, Abuja
Leaders from the North and South, on Wednesday, urged youths and other Nigerians who plan to participate in the highly-anticipated nationwide protests to abandon the idea.
The leaders said that all across the world no meaningful progress is ever recorded through violent protests or otherwise.
The leaders, who are members of Citizens Network for Peace and Development in Nigeria (CNPDN), in a statement made available to newsmen and signed by the National Coordinator, Mr Ralpheal Okorie, on behalf of others, said the situation is not peculiar to Nigeria, explaining that it is a global challenge.
They said the protests might be hijacked by hoodlums and other miscreants, who might turn the exercise into violent uprisings.
They also called on President Bola Tinubu to address the nation and allay the fears of Nigerians regarding what the administration is doing to meet the demands tabled by the protesters.
Read also: Why we can’t withdraw from planned nationwide protest — NLC
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The statement read: “On the planned nationwide protests, we have called on the conveners of the planned protests to stop them. Protests all over the world have never been used to solve a problem.
“The situation in Nigeria is not peculiar to Nigeria alone; it is a global issue. We are using this medium to advise our teeming youth not to join in the protests because protests of this nature will naturally be hijacked by miscreants.
“The real intention will not be achieved. Again, we also want to call on Mr President to address the nation, if possible, to calm frayed nerves, knowing that he has the best intentions for our dear country.”
President Tinubu has already pleaded with the organisers to shelve the protests and give his administration more time to execute people-oriented programmes.
The planned session is coming amidst clamours for nationwide protests from 1 August over the rising cost of living and the economic hardship in the country, which has been blamed on the removal of fuel subsidies, the floating of the naira and other economic reforms implemented by the Tinubu administration.
The planned demonstrations, inspired by the recent Kenya protests, have gained traction on social media, where they are trending under the hashtags ‘EndBadGovernance,’ ‘TinubuMustGo’ and ‘#Revolution2024.’
