Renowned political thinker and founding national secretary of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), Prof. Udenta O. Udenta has warned the Nigerian government to expect more protests if it fails to mitigate poverty, reduce the prices of staple food items significantly.
He also cautioned that organisers of mass protests must respect the constitution they seek to honour and disavow violence.
In a statement, Udenta described hunger as stalking the land “like the proverbial wounded lion—nasty, unrelenting, and unrepentant.”
He stated, “The end hunger protests are a child of compelling historical circumstances—a dialectical response to the excruciating material conditions affecting not just the masses, but virtually all societal strata, except for the 10%.
“Unless hunger is mitigated, poverty reduced, prices of staple food items significantly lowered, inflationary pressures eased, Naira depreciation reversed, and the prices of petroleum products brought within the reach of the people, the nation should expect more hunger protests in the near future—higher in intensity and range than the just-concluded ones.
“No amount—and I repeat, no amount—of pressure, persecution, and prosecution by the state and its security, intelligence, and defense apparatuses can constrain or eliminate mass protests as long as their purposes are genuine, pro-people, and progressive in nature and orientation.
“As long as they are peaceful, civil, and lawful, mass protests are a constitutionally prescribed civic right designed to provide guardrails for the protection of democratic governance and the furtherance of human liberties.”
Udenta acknowledged that President Bola Tinubu’s national broadcast may not have met the expectations of large segments of society, but gave him credit for admitting that the people are hurting and that he hears their cry, loud and clear.
“But as long as they continue to cry with no end in sight, we can expect social instability, mass mobilisation, regime demonisation, and rapidly widening national fault lines—no matter the forces deployed to contain them. As the saying goes, ‘He or she who is already on the ground indeed fears no fall.’”
He further noted that the presence of anarchists and anti-democratic elements within protest ranks must be addressed. Despite the flaws of Western liberal democracy in Africa, it must still be protected from assault by reactionary forces seeking to plunge society into unremitting angst with no end in sight.
