Protests are legitimate, but no room for insurrection, anarchy in a democracy – IMPI

The Independent Media and Policy Initiative (IMPI) has decried how some individuals and groups are laying the groundwork for insurrection under the cover of a peaceful protest.

In a statement signed by its Chairman, Niyi Akinsiju, the policy analyst group noted that although protests are acceptable in a democracy, no government will tolerate a call to anarchy, riots, disturbance of public peace, purposeful violence, and destruction of private or public property.

The Policy Group counselled that a peaceful protest is often organised, orderly, and non-violent. It is supposed to be orderly, a situation where protesters are not expected to go out of control or resort to committing crimes.

IMPI said, “For several weeks, we have quietly watched as some individuals and groups mobilized for what they call’ 10 days of rage’ starting on August 1. Their mode of preparation, gauged from their actions and speeches, shows that they may be bracing up for riots, chaos, and violence, which are antithetical to peaceful protest.

“Engagement in peaceful protest as a means to reduce the cost of living in this country should be seen from the perspective of actions being taken to ameliorate whatever conditions are considered unpalatable.

“Interestingly, within the time some were mobilising for the protest, the administration of President Bola Tinubu had continued to roll out policies and programmes targeted at stemming the effects of the global cost of living crisis as it affects the country.

“Rather than acknowledge that the administration had not been sitting idly or ignoring the need to provide succour for the people, a group of disgruntled elements who will not settle for less but anarchy had continued to use the social media space to steer mutiny and rebellion against the government, ostensibly for political reasons.

“A close look at the demand list shows that what they called a protest against the cost of living crisis is indeed a call to anarchy in the short term and regime change in the long term.

“We wonder how a protest ordinarily aimed at drawing the government’s attention to economic issues, if the claim of reducing costs of living is real, should include, amongst other things, giving Nigeria a new constitution through a Sovereign National Conference and the release of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu, who is standing trial before a court of competent jurisdiction.

“How can anyone rationalise the call for President Tinubu to scrap the Senate, approve a minimum wage of N250,000, and carry out an ‘immediate reconstitution of the electoral body, INEC?

“Many of the demands are beyond the powers of the President, so from an analyst’s point of view, we see the protest as an opportunistic attempt by conflict entrepreneurs and power mongers to capitalise on the crisis of cost of living to wage a war of attrition and insurrection against a duly elected government.

“We urge Nigerians to see the protest call as nothing but a call to anarchy because we sincerely do not know how the federal government could accede to the demands.”

IMPI also picked holes in the narrative that the President Tinubu administration is not doing anything to provide relief for the citizenry.

“While we acknowledge that economic reforms have brought some hardship in their wake, it is not true that the administration has not been responsive to the issues.

“Some of the initiatives include a reduction in the number of taxes from 60 to 10 and the elimination of withholding tax for businesses with an annual turnover of N25m.

“There is also a N36bn compressed natural Gas (CNG) cost-effective alternative to petrol for mass transit that will see the introduction of 30,000 CNG powered vehicles aside from a one-off N10bn allocation to all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory for the procurement of buses under the National Support and Infrastructure Programme.

“To stem the tide of rising food inflation, President Tinubu recently approved a 150-day duty-free window for food imports while also introducing measures to ramp up local food production.

“And for the youth population, there is a historic student loan scheme that is up and running, while the reinvigorated National Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) would be rolled out in a few day’s time to put N110bn in the hands of young business owners,” the IMPI added