…says peaceful Protest is a Civic duty
The Former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus has added his voice in support of the planned #EndBadGovernance in Nigeria Protest, reminding the President that he is a beneficiary of protests.
In a statement issued in Abuja by his media Adviser, Ike Abonyi Secondus, went down memory lane to recall that President Tinubu, while being a leader of the opposition, was a notable arrowhead who led protests against the ruling government of that time and wondered why he should be solipsistic this time around, forgetting that what comes around goes around.
Prince Secondus, while acknowledging the citizen’s right to peaceful protests, harped on the need for civic action to save our dear country from eminent collapse in the face of an unprecedented economic crisis and insecurity occasioned by perennial bad governance fostered by previous as well as their successive governments at all tiers of government.
The former PDP leader argued in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday that the state of anomie where we find ourselves today as a country incrementally worsened because the citizens failed in their duty to hold governments at all levels accountable.
He asserted that this has been the case because political leaders often use those old well-known dichotomies of partisan, ethnic, and religious sentiments to either discourage protests when they are in government or encourage them when they are in the opposition.
According to the former PDP boss, the planned #EndBadGovernanceProtest “is a non-partisan pan-Nigerian and altruistic engagement of the citizens aimed at addressing the endemic malaise in our country.
“This protest should never be discouraged. Protests remain the most potent democratic weapon through which the consciousness of nations can be aroused and indeed the consciousness of the leadership elite can be nudged and compelled to act right in the interest of citizens”.
Secondus contended that the injunction in the Holy Book which says “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free” aptly captures our condition and applies to our situation as Nigerians. In essence, this is not the time to sweep issues under the carpet; rather it is the time to speak truth to power and awaken our collective conscience so that we can work together to build an egalitarian society.
In the light of these compelling reasons and the need for civic engagement, Secondus called on all protesters to be organized, and peaceful and shun all negative vices, especially such acts of violence. He also called on governments at all levels and all security agencies to provide the necessary protection and conducive security environment to the protesters to ensure a peaceful event in compliance with international law and order as enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution.
