Agbekoya says Abuja street protest aimed at subverting Tinubu's victory

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that protests have been rocking the nation’s capital, over the Feb. 25 elections, with protesters kicking against the May 29 inauguration of the President-elect, Tinubu.

The anti-Tinubu protesters, under the aegis of National Youth League for the Defence of Democracy (NYLDD), demanded the invocation of an Interim National Government (ING) to conduct a fresh election and sacking of INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.

Reacting, the association in a statement on Sunday in Lagos by Otunba Adegbenro Ogunlana, the Secretary General of Agbekoya Worldwide, called for caution.

He said the protesters were trying to ignite a keg of gunpowder and the consequences would be too disastrous and catastrophic for the country to bear.

“We have studied critically the unfolding events in the recent past against the presidential victory of Tinubu, from the foul cry of the losers to the petitions at the Election Tribunal and the recent street protest.

“It is very necessary to front a voice of wisdom to the aggrieved and the entire citizens of Nigeria to tread gently when the road becomes rough like this.

“The election tribunal has received the petition of the aggrieved, for the aggrieved to organise a public protest to a case set before adjudication is an attempt to wrongly influence justice or intimidate the judiciary.

“The world is interested in your petition and the world cannot at the same time be forced to accept its claims, rather it will seek to reason with it if any fact is in the present position it holds,” Ogunlana said.

According to him, the protesters are to be conscious of the strength of their action as subversive and capable of undermining the sovereignty of Nigeria.

He added: “It will be too costly to ignite a seemingly pending and avoidable holocaust.

“We hereby condemn the present street protest since the case has been set before the judiciary for adjudication.

“We also condemn the position of the Labour Party calling for a fresh Presidential Election for it appears to us that the Labour Party and its members are not sensitive to the fragile position Nigeria is for now and they should be told that winning an election is not worth the blood of any Nigerian.

“We all have a right to protest, but not all protests are right just as when a case is before a competent tribunal and we proceed to organise or pay a crowd to unrest the public, this is prejudicial, illicit and subversive.”

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the APC’s Tinubu, a two-term Governor of Lagos State, was declared the winner of the Feb. 25 presidential election, defeating LP’s Peter Obi and PDP’s Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.