Human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong criticized President Bola Tinubu’s recent address regarding the nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests, calling it “a pack of empty words and a time-wasting load of irrelevancies.”
Journalist101 reports that in his Sunday address, the president urged young people to end the protests while outlining the steps his administration is taking to address Nigeria’s numerous challenges.
Inibehe contended that the speech confirmed his long-held belief “that we are dealing with a fatalistic political class that is intentionally deaf and willfully blind to the sufferings and yearnings of Nigerians.
“This President is disconnected from the reality of the everyday Nigerian. He’s living in an imaginary Nigeria that only exist in his head. The speech couldn’t have been more meaningless and aimless.
“Those who wrote it, and Mr. Tinubu who read it out, have succeeded in justifying the reasons for the nationwide protest.”
He added that the speech failed to address the numerous demands of the protesters, but was more concerned with the idea that the protest is being sponsored by opposition politicians.
“It is appalling that despite what we have witnessed across the country in the last three days, the President did not deem it necessary to speak to the specific demands of the protesters.
“A government is only useful if it serves the interest of the governed. This government is anti-people.
“Tinubu made no mention of electoral reform, no reversal of his horrible and devastating economic policies, he made no attempt to cut down the over bloated size of his government.
“Tinubu made no concessions.
“This President only did what despots do; ignore the agitations of the masses.
“Great leaders make sacrifices for their country, but terrible leaders like Tinubu only know how to sacrifice the country for their interest.
“It is not his voice that people wanted to hear, people wanted him to speak directly to their demands. His call for dialogue is in bad faith. He did not address the mindless killing of protesters by security agencies in any meaningful way. He also did not set up any credible machinery for a purposeful dialogue.
“Tinubu is preoccupied with the ridiculous idea that the protest is being sponsored by his political adversaries. This provocative arrogance by Nigerian politicians will be ended one day by Nigerians, one way or the other.”
