Personal Assistant (on Social Media) to the Nigerian President, Lauretta Onoche, has denied any attempt by the Federal Government to bully the organisers of the anti-government protest.
Speaking on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily, she stated that all that the government was interested in, was for the popular musician, Innocent (Tu-face) Idibia to come and explain why he and his group were organising the protest.
“I could never ever frown against the protest, what I frowned at and I still do, are the motives behind the protest.
“I have come back to Nigeria to see that protests are not really what we see. So when I read in the news “Tu-face to lead other stars to protest President Buhari’s policies”, I looked at the headline and I felt there was something not quite right.
“You can’t protest against something that you are not aware about, what policies are you protesting,” Onoche questioned.
“I wanted to be sure that Tu-face and the people he was leading into the protest understood what the policies were.
“I wanted him to come on national television and explain to Nigerians what those policies he was not happy with were”.
Furthermore, the president’s aide stated “I don’t think he’s been bullied. He has a right to protest.”
According to her, denying anyone such rights can be likened to “beating a child and asking him not to cry”.
She also alleged that the exercise is been hijacked by politicians.
Unfavourable Policies
Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters under the aegis of the #I Stand With Nigeria group, have gone ahead in Abuja and Lagos to protest what they call “unfavourable government policies”.
This is despite the fact that Tu-face, who had started the movement, decided to call it off after security reports revealed that hoodlums had planned to hijack the peaceful procession.
In reaction to this, the singer told Channels Television on Monday that although he is not physically part of the protest for security reasons, he is still in support of it.
“I don’t have the sole franchise to protest so I’m still in support of them, I think its within their rights.
“I can’t tell anybody not to stand for what they believe in. For me, there were a whole lot of things I put into consideration. I noticed a whole lot of people were trying to hijack the process.”
Explaining further about his decision, he stated: “I didn’t stop the protest, I only stopped the physical convergence.
“I want to make it clear, I was not arrested by the DSS, I am free, I am good, nobody intimated me, nobody harassed me, nobody paid me to start it in the first place and nobody paid me to stop it.”
