Tinubu Should Fear Bangladesh-style Unannounced Protests, Toyin Falola Warns

According to him, it was kind of the protestors to disclose their demonstrations several weeks in advance

The President Bola Tinubu administration, according to renowned history and African studies professor Toyin Falola, has not addressed the main causes of the #EndBadGovernance protests that spread to most of Nigeria’s states earlier in August.

The 70-year-old University of Texas professor was a guest on Channels Television’s Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a sociopolitical program, on Friday.

According to him, it was kind of the protestors to disclose their demonstrations several weeks in advance so that the administration could plan how to lessen the influence of the gatherings.

Falola, however, asserted that the Tinubu government had to be concerned about impromptu and unruly protests, such as those occurring in Bangladesh, a South Asian nation, where youthful protestors are opposing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s policies.

Between August 1 and 10, young demonstrators held rallies in most cities in Nigeria, protesting high cost of living and soaring food prices. The protesters also asked Tinubu to reverse the subsidy on petrol for prices of basic commodities to drop.

On August 4, 2024, Tinubu addressed Nigerians and ruled out the return of petrol subsidies, a major demand of #EndBadGovernance campaigners.

Speaking on the programme, the don faulted the presidential statement on the #EndBadGovernance protests, saying the major issues of hunger, skyrocketing energy costs, high standard of living and insecurity raised by young demonstrators were not addressed by the President.

“When the President issues his own, no issue around fuel subsidy, no issue around infrastructure, no talk about electricity, no talk about security – – all the elements that drove the protests.

“Aṣọ Rock’s fundamental reaction was: ‘we don’t want anyone to destabilise the government’. Nobody wants to destabilise the government.

“Of course, some elements took advantage of protests with the Russian flags, calls for coup, but the protest was not about destabilising the government; the protesters were not calling for a coup. Of course, in Kaduna, they did but that was not the original intention which was to say, ‘we are very hungry’. Are they not hungry? They are.”

He said there is no way Tinubu won’t know about the rising cost of living in Nigeria, fuelled by persistent inflationary pressure in the country.

Falola said, “He (Tinubu) knows, and making excuses is not the way to govern but at the end of the day, we are lucky that there were no damages. People were expecting Igbo-Yoruba warfare in Lagos (but) it didn’t happen.

“The fundamental things that produced the protest are still there. What the government should pay attention to is that undated or unannounced or unplanned protest that is more dangerous. Because you cannot control that one. This one that there was notice and you can put your police or bullies on the streets. But the protest to fear is like that of Bangladesh.”

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