The North Central All Progressives Congress (APC) Forum has issued a strong caution against planned nationwide protests purportedly targeting President Bola Tinubu's administration.
During a press briefing in Jos, Plateau State, the forum's Chairman, Saleh Mandung Zazzaga, warned that such protests could stymie national progress and encouraged organizers to reconsider their plans.
Zazzaga remarked that the protests appear to be motivated by selfish objectives rather than genuine concerns for national progress. He highlighted that President Tinubu's administration is working hard to steer the country toward progress and stability and that these protests could be an unneeded diversion.
Zazzaga also urged potential demonstrators to consider the current security issues in the North Central region and other sections of the North, which are currently under strain. He emphasized that any sort of disruption might exacerbate the situation, undermining the government's attempts to resolve these challenges.
The APC chairman urged for unity and support for the government's policies, arguing that constructive conversation is a more effective strategy than disruptive protests. He warned that holding protests in the already volatile North Central region could jeopardize security.
He said; “Therefore, any protest in the region can be highjacked by hoodlums to cause mayhem and threaten the lives and properties of law-abiding citizens.
“The issue of kidnappings, banditry and other criminal activities the region has been going through over the years is already overwhelming on the region, and it cannot afford to have another restiveness added to it.
“Besides, protests in parts of the region and the North often take an ethno-religious dimension, which also culminated in killings of one another between Christians and Muslims.
“An example of such a protest which often turns violent and takes an ethno-religious crisis, is that of the #EndSARS protest across the country, which took such dimension in Jos, the Plateau State capital, and we have to do a lot to tame it.
“I, alongside other eminent persons in Jos, went around calming the people down to stop the violence, and we ensured that Christians were protected in Muslim areas, and vice versa, and thereafter handed those protected from harm over to the police to unite them with their families safely.
“So, I call on all our members across the region to mobilise vigorously and campaign against any form of protest in the region, and I also urge the governors, religious leaders, traditional rulers and other eminent personalities and opinion leaders in the North Central region to call all their wards to order and advise them against participating in any form of protest due to the peculiar situation of our region.”
