The United Nations (UN) department of safety and security has warned that the planned protests in Nigeria may be hijacked by groups with ulterior motives.

Recent reports indicate that various Nigerian groups are planning a nationwide protest from August 1 to 10, dubbed “10 days of rage,” to address the country’s soaring cost of living and economic hardship.

In a threat and risk assessment finding dated July 19, the UN expressed concerns about the possibility of violence, citing past instances where similar protests in Nigeria escalated.

“Recall that in the 13–16 February 2023 interval, tensions generated by the paucity of new Naira currency (financial crisis) reached high levels amongst the civilian population, which materialized in violent protests in the South-East and South-South regions of Nigeria, in the states of Akwa Ibom, Delta, Edo, Imo, Kwara, Lagos, Ondo, Ogun, Oyo, and Rivers,” the threat and risk assessment reads.

“During the civil unrest in the different states, several bank branches and ATM points were vandalized, and major roads were blocked.

“As the turnout for the ’10 days of rage’ protest is expected to be high, large-scale disruptions to normal economic and social activities cannot be discounted.”

The threat assessment also showed that confrontations between groups supporting the government and those disagreeing with its policies cannot be ruled out from the end of July towards August 10-15.

“While acknowledging the economic hardship in the country, some organizations and leaders of ethnic groups (especially in South-South and South-East) were discouraging participation in any of the 1-10 August protests (E.g. Ọhanaeze Ndigbo, a socio-cultural organization in Nigeria, claiming to represent the interests of all Igbos),” the UN said.

“This highlights the possibility of the events being hijacked by other interest groups/detractors, thus complicating the security landscape of different areas.”

Those calling for the protests are asking for a reverse of some policies implemented by President Bola Tinubu believed to have engendered hardship in the country.

Some of the demands include the reinstatement of petrol and tertiary education subsidies, restoring affordable electricity tariffs, and reducing import duties to previous values established before the economic crisis.

Others are declaring a state of emergency on inflation, more transparency in public administration, publicly disclosing and reducing the salaries and allowances of political office holders, and reforms to the judicial system.

In a statement addressed to Tinubu, Joe Ajaero, president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), said it would be hard to prevent Nigerians from expressing dissatisfaction with the government’s policies.

Tsarbomba:
UN or whatever you called yourself, go and tell your PAY MASTERS that those that BANK-ROLLED you to spew this trash that there's NO GOING BACK on the protest. They have now till 31 July to stop the hardship and hunger pandemic in the land.!!
#EndBadGovernment
#EndCorruption

PresidObi:
Thank you UN, but these guys have ear problems.

We have been warning them o, they wont hear till they employ some jobless park touts to burn their old houses then turn around and look for who to pin it on.

Go and protest in your home states of Osun, Ondo, Oyo and Ogun states. We will check ID cards, if you're not from Lagos, we won't allow you join the protests. Just as many people were not allowed to vote in Lagos, they should not also join protests.

For the Ss and Se, you know that you have no dog in this fight, don't go and dance to a music you don't know who is beating the drums. Hardship dey, but dont enter prison because of a planned protest that has been placed as a trap for you.

DMerciful:
If any peaceful protester is killed,
the demand will be escalated to the impossible!

This is not 2020