Why Tinubu should have led the hunger-protest – Adewale Sobowale

Photo credit: Arise News

The hunger protests in Nigeria from August 1 to 10 seem to have mellowed, save for the peaceful ones in Lagos State and the looting in some northern states. I am hearing rumours that the one in Rivers State is still going on.

However, at least for the ruling elite, things will soon come to normal.

I commend Governor Sanwoolu for his sagacity and for being up to the task. That is why even while the protests are still going on, workers and everyone else are doing their daily chores. That is how governance should be.

The right to protest is sacrosanct in democracies!

Now, let’s come to the main issue. I believe the protest planners were fair enough because they gave the government about four weeks’ notice. Four weeks is enough for an active government to sit up to the task. That’s why I wrote a piece stating that the protest might not occur.

The protest might not have occurred if the government had heeded the warning and done what was right.

In the piece, I wrote that the President ought to be reminded of the power of his pen. If the president had fulfilled just two of the protesters’ many demands, I wouldn’t think the protests would have happened.

The president could have joined or even led the protests, and he would have been welcomed by the protesters.

For instance, how did government efforts reduce the price of rice sold from about eighty thousand naira to forty thousand naira?

I think this is the time to consider states governing their own resources again. In Nigeria’s First Republic, I’m not aware of the regions going to Lagos to share the country’s resources. I believe it’s rather insulting, anyway. In a federal setting, the states should not depend on the centre for their livelihood. I should think that if we want to have a democratic system, the states should be where the action should be.

We should have a weaker central government relative to the states.

Most of these things take some time. However, with a willing spirit, they could be done.

Back to Tinubu, as a veteran of protests and being an Asiwaju, if he had listened and done at least two of the protesters’ demands, he would have been in a better place to lead the protests!

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