A civil society group, EnoughisEnough (EiE) among other concerned Nigerians on Monday still went ahead with ‘One-Voice/#IstandwithNigeria’ campaign despite the withdrawal of hip-hop star, Innocent Idibia, popularly known as Tuface, to lead the rally which had tremendously gained public acceptance.
Recall that the spokesperson of EiE, Debisi Alokolaro, made the intention of the group to continue with the protest known in a statement released yesterday.
Mr. Alokolaro said the ‘I Stand With Nigeria/One Voice Nigeria’ rally is being staged to protest the corruption and worsening standard of living under the Muhammadu Buhari administration at all levels of government.
Tuface backed out of the ‘One-Voice’ protest on Friday citing security reasons and emphasized that, the rally is not worth the blood of any Nigerian.
He noted that consultations have shown clearly that the ‘One Voice’ protest scheduled to hold in Lagos and Abuja today, is under serious threat of hijack by interests not aligned with the ideals of his group.
“The point I am making is that the intent is not worth the life of any Nigerian. It is motivated by the need to negotiate a better deal for the ordinary Nigerian. I therefore announce the cancellation of the planned protest,” said the singer, in the audio-visual message that has since gone viral on the internet.
Similarly another group, called Coalition in Defence of Nigerian Democracy and Constitution (CDNDC) also lends itsvoice to the protest, saying it was never about Tuface alone in the first place.
In a press statement issued by one Ariyo-Dare Atoye, co-convener, CDNDC, “the cancellation of #IStandWithNigeria rally is not the consensus of Nigerians, majority of fellow planners and not a true reflection of the sincere plan to organize this rally in public interest.”
He said: “Let it be known that Mr. Idibia merely keyed into an ongoing public discourse over this protest to take a lead. It was never his singular idea but the concerns of the suffering masses.
Meanwhile, the Police Assistance Committee (PAC) of Nigeria has kicked against the planned protest. In a statement signed by the Director-General of PAC, Dr. Martins John Oni, the body said the proposed protest, which had elicited much tension among the citizenry and was giving the police and other security agencies serious concern, could disrupt public peace and bring hardship on innocent Nigerians who might want to go about their normal businesses.
The organisation said what the country needed at this time was to support President Muhammadu Buhari and his government to continue in his anti-corruption drive without any distraction, and also concentrate on his economic policies being packaged to bring Nigeria out of recession, adding “ with a little patience, government will deliver the dividends of democracy to Nigerians.”