Afenifere Condemns Call For Coup, Says Democracy Better Than Military Regime

The pan-Yoruba socio-organisation, Afenifere, has condemned those calling for military take over of the country, saying the current democracy must not be truncated.

The Chief Ayo Adebanjo-led Afenifere made this admonition in a statement on Tuesday amidst calls by some protesters in the just concluded national hunger protests by Nigerians.

The magazine reported that some protesters under the #endbadgovernance had openly canvassed for military take over, in the northern parts of the country, while others brandished the Russian Federation flag to show their disenchantment with the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Not  a few Nigerians have condemned the calls by the protesters for a force take over of the government.

Reacting to the calls, Afenifere in the statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi said the current democratic process should not be truncated for any ‘reason’ whatsoever.

The group said brandishing the flags of foreign nations, describing it as inciting, and must be condemned by well meaning Nigerians.

Afenifere said despite some of its shortcomings, democratic government is still better that the military regime.

The statement said in part,  “Whether the flags belonged to Russia or the army, the message is more or less the same  – inciting the taking-over of government through an unconstitutional means.

“It would be a height of self-delusion to assume that the intervention of either the military or a foreign power will put an automatic stop to the hunger in the land.”

Ajayi stated that democracy “is still the best in our current situation because of its inherent characteristics of making the people the custodians of political mandate. Its elastic nature allows various tendencies to operate  – as long as they do so within the ambit of the law.

“This is a far cry from what is obtainable under a military government,” the group said.