Protests: Presidential aide accuses Peter Obi’s supporters of plot to remove Tinubu

The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has accused supporters of Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 election of plotting to unseat President Bola Tinubu under the guise of protests.

Mr Onanuga made the allegation in a statement posted on his verified X handle on Saturday.

He did not, however, provide any evidence to substantiate his allegation.

“The malcontents planning to stage nationwide protests are supporters of Peter Obi, the failed presidential candidate of the Labour Party. He should be held responsible for whatever crisis emanates from the action,” the post reads in part.

Planned protests

After one year of President Tinubu’s administration, many of the economic reforms have created immense inflationary pressure, most especially on food. Cost of living has also heightened.

Across the country, the economic situation is fuelling frustration and anger against the government, with many Nigerians calling for massive protests.

In the past couple of days, some governors have publicly warned the youth in their states not to join any protest against the federal government.

On Wednesday, the members of the House of Representatives resolved to slash their salaries by half to appease Nigerians. However, the lawmakers only slashed a fraction of their allowances.

‘SSS, security agencies must act’

Mr Onanuga maintained that the planned protests are an insurrection against the current administration and called on the State Security Service (SSS) to arrest those he listed.

One of the names in the statement is a former senatorial candidate in Lagos State, Gbadamosi Babatunde, along with other anonymous accounts.

“The protest planners are also the same people who were instigated by IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu to launch the destructive ENDSARS protest in Nigeria in October 2020. ENDSARS began as a genuine protest by youths against the Police Special Anti-Robbery Squad, notorious for its high-handedness. IPOB members planning to extricate the South-east region from Nigeria infiltrated the protest and hijacked it for their own agenda. Lagos still bears the scar of the malicious destruction by IPOB elements to this day.

“Two years after ENDSARS, the IPOB and the gullible innocents joined the Labour Party in 2022 to support Peter Obi, a sympathiser of their cause.

Peter Obi.

“They are the people spreading the hashtags ‘EndBadGovernance’, ‘Tinubu Must Go’, and ‘Revolution2024’. They are not democrats but anarchists. They are attempting to call out our people via propaganda because their Messiah, Peter Obi, failed to win the presidency in the 2023 election. As bad losers, they don’t have the patience to wait for another election in 2027; they would rather destabilise Nigeria by staging a civilian coup against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” he said.

The aide said some of the hashtags used by the organisers of the protests show that they have ulterior motives.

“Security agents should, by now, begin to interrogate these agents of destabilisation. There is no country in the world where people are not going through some economic challenges and where the cost of living is not a major issue,” he said.

Mr Onanuga argued that the current administration has taken enough steps to address the economic problems facing the country.

“Nigerian citizens must consider the government’s attitude and concern about the cost of living crisis when deciding whether to join the protests by the Labour Party and IPOB supporters.

“The Tinubu government has not been found wanting in this regard. The minimum wage has been increased by more than 100 per cent. Loans are being disbursed to students in tertiary schools. A credit corporation has been launched to promote consumption credit,” he said.

Efforts by PREMIUM TIMES to speak with Tanko Yunusa, spokesperson for Mr Obi, were unsuccessful as he did not respond to several calls to his mobile phone.

Read the full statement:

REVEALED: Peter Obi’s supporters are the people planning mayhem in Nigeria: Obi should be held responsible for anarchy

Don’t be fooled: the malcontents planning to stage nationwide protests are supporters of Peter Obi, the failed presidential candidate of the Labour Party. And he should be held responsible for whatever crisis emanates from the action.

The protest planners are also the same people who were instigated by IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu to launch the destructive ENDSARS protest in Nigeria in October 2020. ENDSARS began as a genuine protest by youths against the Police Special Anti-Robbery Squad, notorious for its high-handedness. IPOB members planning to extricate the South East region from Nigeria infiltrated the protest and hijacked it for their own agenda. Lagos still bears the scar of the malicious destruction by IPOB elements until today.

Two years after ENDSARS, the IPOB and the gullible innocents joined the Labour Party in 2022 to support Peter Obi, a sympathiser of their cause.

They are the people spreading the hashtags ‘EndBadGovernance’, ‘Tinubu Must Go,’ and ‘Revolution2024’. They are not democrats but anarchists. They are attempting to call out our people via propaganda because their Messiah, Peter Obi, failed to win the Presidency in the 2023 election. As bad losers, they don’t have the patience to wait for another election in 2027; they would rather destabilise Nigeria by staging a civilian coup against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

If they understand the meaning of their hashtags, they will realise they are clarion calls for treason. Wanting to end an elected government is high treason. Wanting revolution is a call for a coup d’etat, which is also high treason.

I have been on the trail of one of the protest planners, who is nameless but claims to have an internet radio station, PTM100.88 Abuja. The anonymous person joined X in August 2022 and has 520 followers today, among whom are FS Yusuf, another rabid Obi supporter, and Professor Pat Utomi, a Labour Party chief and a guy on X who goes by the pseudonym Peter Obi’s First Son. PTM’s profile image has someone holding the inscription` Certificate Forger Not My President, ‘ with a photo of Peter Obi as an inset. Only Obi’s supporters will be talking about certificate forgery long after the Supreme Court dismissed the allegation.

In the past 24 hours, this faceless X user has been whipping up the gullible to join the protest being planned and also posting the activities of his Messiah, Peter Obi. He retweets Peter Obi often.

In one of the posts, a video shows a teenager, who is said to be in the North, printing T-shirts emblazoned with “EndBadGovernance in Nigeria 2024’.

There is also a retweeted post by Babatunde Gbadamosi, a failed and frustrated politician in Lagos. In it, he refers to his earlier post urging people “ to identify APC members, sponsors, supporters, enablers, thugs, promoters, and appointees.” The police and DSS ought to have arrested the man for making a brazen threat to political opponents.

There is “General Oluchi,” a woman who goes by the screen name “A Field Marshall of the Han Dynasty.”

She has been sending out letters of mobilisation. She even pinned a “Week 6 “ letter urging Nigerians to wake up and take control of their country, using the language of IPOB, Peter Obi, and his supporters.

Another member of the malcontents is Brother Bernard, also known as Mikael C. Bernard. He is not based in Nigeria because he was once busted over Binance and fraudulent crypto businesses in Nigeria. Bernard was the man who once wrote that the naira should go down to zero.

In a reaction to Oluchi, he said the protesters should remove the increase in salaries for the armed forces as part of their demands.

“If they want an increment in salary, let them launch their own protest. It is not our job to fight for enablers of evil”, he wrote on X.

According to our law, men of the armed forces don’t protest, an X user reminded him. He posted a sarcastic response: ‘By law, they can slap people wearing cams ( camouflage) and shoot at protesters ba?”

Security agents should, by now, begin to interrogate these agents of destabilisation. There is no country in the world where people are not going through some economic challenges and where the cost of living is not a major issue. No country is immune from economic turbulence at the moment. Civilised and democratic people wait for another election to make leadership changes. They don’t trigger mayhem in their countries by staging protests, the end of which nobody can predict.

Nigerian citizens must consider the government’s attitude and concern about the cost of living crisis when deciding whether to join the protests by the Labour Party and IPOB supporters.

The Tinubu government has not been found wanting in this regard. The minimum wage has been increased by more than 100 percent. Loans are being disbursed to students in tertiary schools. A credit corporation has been launched to promote consumption credit. Palliatives, including the latest distribution of 740 trucks of rice to the 36 states and Abuja, are being rolled out. Businesses, such as pharmaceuticals, are being assisted. The Federal and state governments are investing heavily in agriculture to produce more food.

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The economy is improving, inflation is slowing, the national debt has been reduced in dollar terms, and the FIRS has increased revenue generation to record levels. Investors are coming back to our country. Our stock market is the best in the world, with a 33 percent return on investment.

President Tinubu has a four-year mandate to run his agenda. Those calling for protest should wait till 2027 to either re-elect him or elect their Messiah, Mr Peter Obi.