Former presidential candidate and All Progressive Congress, (APC) chieftain, Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim has said citizens are constitutionally guaranteed the right to protest as long as such rights are expressed peacefully and without infringement on the rights of others.

The federal government has held a series of meetings with several youth groups to shelve the nationwide protest and give President Bola Tinubu’s administration more time to execute people-oriented programs. The security agencies have also cautioned against the protest, disclosing that it is being sponsored by foreign elements who want to harm NIgeria.

Similarly, many anti-protest advocates have labelled the protest an attempt by aggrieved politicians to destabilise Tinubu’s administration.

However, the protest organisations, including Take It Back Movement, have insisted on embarking on the exercise which begins on August 1, stressing that the protest was against bad governance.
In a release by his media department, Mr. Olawepo-Hashim said there “are legitimate grounds for Nigeria people to protest the prevailing economic situation and myriad of challenges not currently satisfactorily addressed, Nigerians did protest in robust manners even under military rule.”

According to him: “What the Government needs to do is to address the issues with utmost sincerity. It is time for an honest introspection.”

Olawepo-Hashim, however, said any group of people allegedly plotting regime change under the cover of protest would be engaged in treason and where credible evidence exists would be answerable to law.

“We are a democracy, one that some of us suffered dearly to establish. Although our democracy may be slow to produce positive results for our people, we must resist the temptation and seduction of unconstitutional change which in our immediate past has produced horrible outcomes.

“Let us work instead harder to make our democracy produce more positive results, adding that God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria!”