Hunger Protest Day 1: Wike Makes U-turn, Begs Protesters To Dialogue With Govt

Amidst the ongoing demand for governance in the country by protesters Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, has appealed to Nigerians to dialogue with the government.

The minister made the appeal on Thursday following the nationwide protests by Nigerians under the aegis of #endbadgovernace, demanding from the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration to end the economic hardship in the country.

The Source Magazine has reported that some civil societies organisation in the country had declared a 10-day protest to drive the demand home, for government to make life easy for Nigerians.

]The protest started today and has been spreading across the country including the FCT.

Recall also that the FCT minister had earlier warned that protest will not be allowed in the nation’s capital, and had also denied the prostesters’ demand to use the Eagle  Square as a place of convergence.

The minister’s actions have been widely condemned by Nigerians who said the Square is a public property and does not belong to the former Rivers state governor.

However speaking today while presenting staff of office to the four newly appointed graded chiefs of Karu, Kwali, Pai, and Yaba in the territory, the minister said the government is ready to dialogue with the protesters.

According to him peace is still the best option because “it is better to dialogue with the government and keep the peace,” adding that the Tinubu administration has not been well understood by Nigerians.

Wike said: “Let me take this opportunity to commend the people, the youths of Abuja for not being violent. We have said severally that it is better to dialogue with the government and keep the peace. He who makes peace will at the end of the day enjoy the dividends of peace. I still want to talk to our people that we are still ready to sit down and dialogue with them and let them know things that they may not know because information is power. I commend the protesters in Abuja who have refused to be violent.”

Meanwhile, the magazine learnt that more state governments are planning to follow in the foot steps of  Kano, Gombe, and Borno states which have already declared 24-hour curfew after the protests turned violent in their states.