By Akinwale Kasali
Hamza Al-Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer, CSO, to late Military Dictator, General Sani Abacha, has slammed President Bola Tinubu for deviating from the grievances of protesters when he addressed the Nigerians in reaction to the hunger, hardship and bad governance protest.
Al-Mustapha faulted President Tinubu for failing to address the salient points raised by the protesters and their sponsors, and said his response was harsh and not in line with the dictates of Chapter Two of the Nigerian Constitution which confers rights to peaceful protests on citizens.
The former Presidential Candidate of Action Alliance, AA, said those around the President are the major problems of the country, saying that they have continously failed to inform the President of the realities on ground.
He added that they failed in their duties when they could not prevail on the protesters to halt their actions even when the later gave over one month notice of their impending actions.
Al-Mustapha said he is perturbed that lives were lost with many people injured just as he decried the destruction of property during the unfortunate development.
The retired Nigerian Army intelligence officer, registered his sympathy to the victims of the protest by not only wearing black coloured caftan but also standing throughout the media session even when the event was held in his residence. He reminded the President that governance is a herculean thing and different from the razzmatazz of campaigns.
He expressed his mood about the nation thus: “Let me be on my feet, I feel sad, I’m very sad in the sense that every candidate, every political party came up with an agenda and then if going by the contents of the agenda, manifestos of political parties and that of the individual candidates and their running mates were anything to go by, Nigerians would have been highly progressive and very peaceful but to me, seeing the reverse of it today is what is making me sad, so I’m not in a happy mood.
“Governance is a herculean thing, it’s different from the razzmatazz of campaigns, realities on leadership that settle down to provide what is required to the people is all that matters. I’m talking to you in this way-wearing back because I’m talking from the mood and situation of the country.
“I’m not happy about the fact that people have lost loved ones. The destruction, the disaffection across the country, particularly between the leader and the leadership and the hopelessness we see every day, the current inflation when you look at our economy are worrisome.
“The reaction from youths, from different segments of our society is of great concern. We are part and parcel of the situation and if it is true that I contested in the last election, then it shows that I am also a father, so any soul, any spill of blood anywhere in Nigeria is of great concern to me.”
Even as he said he wasn’t in support of the protest, the retired military officer bemoaned the Federal Government’s handling of the protests.
“I’m not in support of the protests, I spoke some three weeks back and I issued out warning and I said never allow the protest to commence. The good thing is that they (protesters) gave notice. And despite the long notice, nothing happened and it started. It shows that those around the leadership that had allowed that to happen themselves, have failed in their duties. I can see negligence. Those around the president are not in support of the president, talk less to have allowed him to read such a speech, that is away from the grievances outlined by the protesters and their sponsors.
“So, if they are pushing the president to be hitting left while their side is on the right, then it shows those who misdirected him to the left are his enemies and enemies of the system and the country. Every government or every leadership is saddled with advisers and other arms of government that collectively should look at the state of the nation and present it to the president before his speech is written. So squarely and sincerely, you are hitting point and at the end of the day, people would have succour. Besides, every leadership on earth, from the beginning to the end of time, is anchored on two things. One is the confidence of the people in the leadership. And when their hope is lost, when their confidence is lost, once anything affects the hope and confidence of the people, then leadership must sit down and adjust. And that is the pain I’m having. “
Asked what he would have done if he had won the 2023 Presidential election he contested alongside President Bola Tinubu, the politician said: “Politics aside, it would have been extremely different because I think, I’m not praise-singing our political party and our team. We are the only political party and candidate that was about the youths as the source of investment. We were the only ones who spelt out protecting and signifying women, we were the only ones who talked about deeply on securing Nigeria in phases and stages, we were the only ones who talked about also, recovery from the losses, from remittances of what people stole and then in support of Naira and then looking at Naira from the international trade and looking at Naira from the international dirty politics.
“We were the only ones that talked about dirty budget politics in Nigeria. We talked about dirty domestic oil politics, and we talked about and planned for international dirty oil politics. These are some of the problems bedevilling the country today. If these were managed as contained in our plans, definitely this wouldn’t be the situation of Nigeria today.”
He however recalled that in his closing remarks during one of the debates he had with some presidential candidates, he proposed that whatever candidates had researched and compiled should be handed over to whosoever emerges winner so that there would be entrenchment of democracy, peace and prosperity in all aspects of life in Nigeria.
