…Says: He’s unbaptized ethnic bigot, fanning embers of tribalism
As the August 1(tomorrow ‘s) nationwide protest against bad governance and hunger continues to gather momentum each day, fiery Owerri-based legal practitioner and human rights activist, Chief Ifeanyi Olumba has blasted the Special Adviser to President Ahmed Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Ononuga for linking the Labour Party, LP Presidential Candidate during the 2023 general elections, Mr Peter Obi with the protest dubbed “Endbadgovernance/Hunger Protest”
Mr Ononuga had in a release a fortnight ago accused Mr Peter Obi of being the mastermind of the impending nationwide protest, saying that if anything untoward happens, that Mr Peter Obi should be held responsible.
The Presidential aide had since taken a lot of flak from notable Nigerians, including former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Babachir Lawal, former Secretary, Government of the Federation for his outburst.
However, fielding questions from newsmen Thursday in Owerri, Imo State Capital,on the planned nationwide protest, Chief Olumba described Mr Ononuga as an unbaptized ethnic bigot who goes around with unverified comments that are capable of setting the nation ablaze, while at the same time fanning embers of tribalism.
The regular commentator on topical issues, especially the phone-in radio and Television programmes said that he supported Mr Peter Obi’s demand for an apology within 72 hours of such an unguarded statement.
According to him, all over the world, like presently in Kenya and other countries, protest is a forum through which citizens express their grievances to their leaders in order to draw their attention to their demands and aspirations.
The former Chairman, Imo Broadcasting Corporation IBC Management Board said that protest is a legitimate right of citizens to seek redress in the event of bad governance and obnoxious policies of any administration.
On whether it is proper for Nigerians to go ahead with the planned protest, Chief Olumba said that the answer is yes because they have rights to freedom of expression, adding that such rights must however be exercised within the ambit of the law.
According to him, Nigerians are mobilizing for a nationwide protest because the witch cried in the night , and the child died in the morning– poverty, hardship, confusion, high cost of living, as Nigerians now feed from the dust bin, all because of government anti- people’s policy.
He said that hunger now walks on two toes as the people vegetate and die, yet the ruling class pretend as if nothing is wrong, hence mourning, wailings, public out-cry, and lamentations everywhere, adding, never in the history of Nigeria have the citizens had it so
rough.
On the calls by certain groups and ethnic nationalities on their members and people not to participate in the protest, Chief Olumba said that hunger knows no groups nor ethnic leaning. Every one is hungry, he said, Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Fulani, Itsekiri, Calabari and others, adding that the protest is neither tribal, political nor religious, but against bad and man’s inhumanity to man.
He maintained that government is a social contract between the citizens and their leaders, saying that in democracy people have the rights to express themselves as politics is a noble profession whose ultimate aim is to see to the welfare of the people.
He advised our political leaders never to vie for any election if they cannot tolerate any protest.
