By Cheta Enyoghasi
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party at the 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi, has criticized President Bola Tinubu’s recent broadcast for ignoring to address major issues that caused the ongoing nationwide protests.
Having led the call for Tinubu to address the nation and answer the people’s demands, Obi said he had to wait to respond in order to make sure his understanding of the speech was the same with other people.
Obi made this observation in a series of tweets on his X handle on Monday.
“I hesitated to respond immediately, as I felt it could have been perceived as another attempt by Peter Obi to sway public opinion, especially since I was initially accused of sponsoring the protest.
“However, I must begin by thanking the President for finally addressing the people, albeit belatedly, which might have prevented the unnecessary loss of innocent lives, including those of our security agents.
“While I had hoped that, in consoling the families of those who lost their loved ones in the protest, he would also show some empathy towards those who were injured, arrested, and detained due to the overzealous and unprofessional conduct of some security operatives, this was unfortunately not the case.
“It is the responsibility of the government to identify criminal elements attempting to disrupt the protest through looting and other unlawful behaviors and to protect those genuinely exercising their democratic rights.
“Nigeria must embrace all tenets of democracy, including the right to protest, without selective adherence.
“I also appreciate his condemnation of the ethnic bigotry being propagated by some individuals against other ethnic groups.
“However, I had hoped for more decisive action, such as the immediate arrest and prosecution of those responsible, to demonstrate that such intolerance will not be tolerated in today’s Nigeria”.
