Grapevine

Organisers will sue FG for killed protesters – Sowore

The protest was driven by the enormous hardship suffered by the Nigerian people. We have seen inflation rising to over 30% within a year. The currency has been devalued by over 100% from about N550 when President Bola Tinubu took over to well over N1,500 per dollar today. Banks are lending at more than 30% interest rate, which means businesspeople must make profits of over 30% to break even and pay off their loans. School fees are up. The subsidies that cushioned ordinary Nigerians from high fuel prices were removed. It has just been from one calamity to another for ordinary Nigerians.

Meanwhile, the Presidency has bought new yachts and planes, while the National Assembly has purchased SUVs worth hundreds of millions of naira for each member. Anyone expecting Nigerians to be silent in the face of all these atrocities by the government and elected officials must take us for fools.

How do you respond to critics who say the protest is politically motivated?

People are protesting at the local, state, and federal levels against the policies and behaviour of elected officials that cut across all the political parties in office. Hunger knows no party affiliation. The question we should be asking is whether the Nigerian people are not experiencing all the issues raised in the protest.

We should be asking why Nigerians endured this catastrophic governance until now. Even the so-called critics of the protest cannot stand and truthfully say they have not been negatively impacted by the government’s policies.