The Leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Elijah Ayodele, on Thursday, cautioned President Bola Tinubu against stopping the upcoming August 1 protest against the hardship in the country.
Primate Ayodele noted that Nigerians are very bitter and harbor significant resentment toward the current government due to the widespread hardship.
In a statement by his Media Aide, Oluwatosin Osho, Ayodele emphasized that the protest will take place, but urged the government to mitigate its impact by reducing the prices of essential commodities like food, fuel, and electricity.
The cleric explained that the current hardship is affecting both the poor and the rich, as many did not anticipate it would reach this level, despite his previous warnings against voting in another APC government. He also urged the president to disregard those misleading him into believing that the country’s economic situation is improving.
According to Ayodele, ‘’People are very bitter and they have hatred towards this government. Some states will participate and some will not but definitely there will be protests. The government needs all it needs to do; crash the price of food, electricity, petroleum, find solutions to insecurity, regulate prices and others to mitigate the effect of the protest.”
‘’People are in serious hardship but the government doesn’t understand, they need to do something fast because it will be more than an ordinary protest. Nigeria doesn’t need this protest now because there is ‘protest inside protest’ due to pains, hardship, and hunger.”
‘’This government is just assumption-based; it is not a realistic one so it’s difficult to connect with people or understand their pains. The government must adjust, it’s very simple to stop this protest by doing all that is needed. It will be a protest of hunger, pains and reward.”
‘’The government is affecting the rich and poor, there is hardship everywhere but people didn’t expect this. People who surround the government are deceiving him. They want the government to collapse. The government has not done anything so they should expect the protest, it will stand.”
‘’Nigeria deserves better welfare despite the increment in minimum wage, it’s not an achievement but let this government go after a better achievement that the people will be grateful for.’’
