- APC National Secretary Ajibola Basiru expects former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to lead the planned nationwide protest against the government
- Basiru criticized the protest’s demands as political, asserting that the Tinubu administration is working hard to address Nigeria’s challenges
The National Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Ajibola Basiru, has stated that he expects former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to lead the planned nationwide protest. Basiru made this statement during an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today on Wednesday, responding to Atiku’s recent criticism of the Tinubu administration.
Atiku had criticized the Federal Government and its agencies for attempting to abort the planned August 1 protest across the country.
In the interview, Basiru argued that the demands of the leaders of the planned protest were political rather than about bad governance.
He said, “As far as I am concerned, talk is very cheap. I expect Atiku Abubakar to lead on the day of the protest. Nobody has stopped somebody from protesting. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and our APC party have not stopped anybody from protesting. Different people come up with ideas at various radio and TV stations, some of them adverse to our government. Has anybody been arrested for criticizing our government? That is what democracy is all about: heterogeneity of ideas.
“That protest is not about bad governance because when you talk about bad governance, there are many parameters that come into play. I don’t know if you have seen the charter of the so-called leaders. Their demands are political. They said we should scrap the 1999 constitution and replace it with a people-made constitution, do away with the Senate, and then the issue of minimum wage. The President has addressed the question of minimum wage.”
Basiru added that the Tinubu administration is working hard to solve the challenges facing Nigeria.