The Kogi State government said, on Sunday, that the people of the state would not partake in the anti-government mass protest being planned for August 1.
The state’s Commissioner for Information Commissioner, Kingsley Fanwo, said Kogi State was “totally in solidarity with efforts at the centre and sub-national levels to put the economy of our dear nation on the right track”.
The state government warned disgruntled opposition forces against setting the country on fire through anti-government protests.
“It is heartwarming that we have received reports that our citizens are ready to march in solidarity with Mr. President’s efforts at defending the economic interests of the poor. We are proud of the fact that the people of Kogi have refused to yield the state to the macabre dance of agents of destabilisation,” the state government said.
The Presidency at the weekend claimed that the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, was behind the planned anti-government protest.
The opposition LP, however, vehemently refuted the claim.
The PUNCH reports that the military and the police have since last week begun mobilising towards checking the planned anti-government protest.
The Kogi information commissioner said Nigerians must understand that “The President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is working assiduously to get the nation’s economy working again.”
He said that apart from the fiscal and monetary policies that are already yielding positive results, the Federal Government had injected economic stimulating incentives to address the challenges being faced by citizens.
He said, “Agriculture, industrialisation, infrastructure, education and healthcare are receiving due attention from the Federal Government.
“As responsible citizens, there is a need to queue behind the efforts of the government at all levels to frontally deal with the issues challenging our well-being. A protest would have been proper if the government was making no efforts. Protests would have been popular if the efforts were not bearing fruit yet. Protests would have been understandable if we were not gradually moving out of the hopeless situation. But a protest at this point is an attack on the foundation of our rebuilding process and an attempt to throw the nation into the darkness orchestrated during the #EndSARS destruction and carnage.”
