As Nysom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, says he has received no application for the use of the popular Eagle Square for the anticipated nationwide protest scheduled to kick-off on Thursday, one protest group says an application has long since been filed, that the square is public property and that the minister therefore has no choice but to let it to the Nigerian public.
Damilare Adenola, the Director of Mobilisation of Take It Back Movement, a non-governmental organisation, stated this on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme.
The protest against economic hardship, which is gaining traction on social media, has been scheduled to hold across all states of the Federation as well as the FCT in August.
The prices of food and basic needs continue to rise painfully higher across the country.
Adenola said he had signed a letter addressed to the minister seeking the use of the facility. The letter was dated July 26, 2024, and was broadcast on social media platforms, he added.
However, the FCT minister said on Saturday that he hadn’t received the letter.
Adenola, on Sunday, blamed the delay in the delivery of the letter on bureaucratic bottlenecks in government but said the minister would get the letter unfailingly on Monday ahead of the demonstration which starts Thursday.
The protest mobiliser said, “It is possible that the receipt of the letter is being delayed by most likely bureaucracy in government or the minister is likely being insincere about receiving the letter.
“If he (Wike) insists that he hasn’t received it, the alternative is that he was served by publication because many Nigerian ministries streamline what to receive or not. If he says he didn’t get it physically, then we could as well say that he was served by publication.
“If he says he wants it by Monday, we will serve him.”
“The truth is that the Eagle Square is a public property. When I saw the video of the minister, I was amazed because I saw the minister asking us to pay rent, pay security fees and all that. My question to the minister is this: how does the minister expect a greater population of Nigerian youths who are impoverished, who have no jobs to afford to exorbitant he is expecting us to pay?
“We are going to be at the Eagle Square on August 1st,” he said.
He said hunger is a great motivation for the protest and that the organisers of the protest need not be privileged Nigerians before they can express themselves.
