Hardship Protest: Professor Farooq Kperogi Identifies ‘Sponsors’

• A popular public commentator, Professor Farooq Kperogi, has spoken on the planned nationwide protest scheduled to begin on Thursday, August 1
• Kperogi said the real organisers of the protests are, hunger and "a sensation of hopelessness" witnessed in the last one year
• In a column, Prof. Kperogi commented on the opposition's recent actions which he concluded are allowed

Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over 9 years of experience covering Nigeria's governance, politics, and elections.

Atlanta, USA - A Nigerian-American media scholar and newspaper columnist, Professor Farooq Kperogi, has said the root causes of the planned nationwide protest are principally the astronomical hike in the cost of basic amenities like food.

Prof. Kperogi in his weekly column on Saturday, July 27, asserted that 'the sensation of hopelessness that overcomes the masses is a big force' for their proposed protest.

Read also

Shehu Sani speaks out as deaths, destruction mar Nigeria's hardship protests: "Scores dead"

Kperogi wrote:

"People who are visiting darkness on the poor in the name of a deferred light at the end of the tunnel are glowing in incandescent bulbs of illumination. And the people are intelligent enough to know that what awaits them at the end of this disconsolate tunnel isn’t light. It’s an inferno. It’s a dreary snake pit of doom and gloom.

"When people come to this realisation, no one needs to “sponsor” them to protest. The pangs of hunger they feel is sufficient to sponsor them to protest. The sensation of hopelessness that overcomes them is a bigger motive force for protest than the political machinations of any politician."

Furthermore, Kperogi admitted that opposition politicians are taking advantage of the “mass discontent” to cripple the Bola Tinubu government and “delegitimise it for their self-interest”, but the professor described it as legal.

Read also

Protests: Dele Momodu speaks on possibility of Tinubu declaring state of emergency

Oyo APC chieftain speaks on planned protest

Meanwhile, Wasiu Olawale Sadare, the spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo state, has told Legit.ng that the planned protest across the country may negatively affect human endeavours.

Sadare said on Sunday, July 28:

"No reasonable patriot would support any protest at this critical time going by the record of the ugly experience we had in 2020 when some criminal elements hijacked the EndSARS protest and used the opportunity to inflict woes on many innocent families and the society in general.

"A peaceful and inclusive approach is key to addressing the chalenges facing Nigeria."

Read more on planned nationwide protest

• List of those supporting, against planned nationwide protests
• Full List: End bad governance agitators told where to protest
• Nationwide protest: Ex-minister Ezekwesili tables 2 demands to Tinubu's govt

'Planned protest potentially dangerous', Bwala

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Barr. Daniel Bwala, a former presidential campaign spokesperson to Atiku Abubakar, said a nationwide protest is not necessary at this point.

Read also

Kano: Governor Yusuf backs hardship protest, knocks police, details emerge

Speaking to state house correspondents shortly after meeting with President Tinubu, Bwala described the planned protest as "politically motivated".

The legal practitioner urged Nigerians to give Tinubu more time as the president is aware of the challenges the country is currently facing.

Source: Legit.ng