ABUJA: President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Nigeria's military on Thursday warned of Kenya-style violence in protests planned for next week over rising living costs, with the army saying it would avert “anarchy”.
Kenya has been rocked by deadly protests that forced the government to repeal new taxes. Nigeria's economic reforms have seen a 40 percent spike in food inflation, but there have been no riots.
Calls for demonstrations starting August 1 have been launched on social media.
It is unclear who is behind the calls or whether people will comply, at a time when many Nigerians fear losing their jobs and are wary after past crackdowns.
President Tinubu touched on the concerns in a statement released Thursday evening, saying: “We are not afraid of the protests. Our concern is the common people and the damage that will result from it.”
In a separate statement, he said “we do not want to turn Nigeria into Sudan,” referring to the 15-month-old civil war in the northeast African country.
“We are talking about hunger, not burials. We must be careful.”
Prices have risen since Tinubu ended a costly fuel subsidy and liberalised the naira currency, part of reforms needed to revive the economy of Africa's most populous nation.
Officials, security forces and governors have urged young people to stay away from any protests. Some have even accused organizers of treason and wanting to destabilize the country.
“While citizens have the right to protest peacefully, they do not have the right to mobilize for anarchy and unleash terror,” defense spokesman Major General Edward Buba told reporters.
“It is easy to see that the contemporary context of the planned protest is to overshadow the events in Kenya, which I have to say are violent,” he added.
The military has identified some “elements intent on hijacking” the planned protests, he said.
“The level of violence expected can only be described as a state of anarchy. The armed forces for their part will not stand by and allow anarchy to overtake our nation.”
The Department of State Services, or DSS, which handles internal threats, said “sinister” elements wanted to abuse the protests and were politically motivated.
“The conspirators wish to use the anticipated violent outcome to smear federal and subnational governments, make them unpopular, and turn them against the masses,” he said in a rare statement.
Tinubu, who has repeatedly called for patience with his reforms, also suggested that some groups were mobilizing protests to spark violence and replicate the Kenyan protests.
On Thursday he met with traditional rulers to seek their help in countering possible demonstrations.
“We the traditional rulers do not want the people, especially the youths, to come out and start looting, to start violating law and order,” the Ooni of Ife Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi said after the meeting.
Last week, the president agreed to more than double the monthly minimum wage for federal employees to 70,000 naira ($43). He also began delivering truckloads of rice to every state in a bid to ease cost-of-living pressures.
The last major protest movement in Nigeria, in October 2020, began over abuse by the SARS police anti-robbery squad, but has morphed into the largest anti-government demonstration in Nigeria’s modern history.
The police unit was disbanded, but the protests ended in bloodshed.
Witnesses and human rights organizations have accused security forces of opening fire on peaceful protesters at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos on October 20, 2020.
Amnesty International said the army killed at least 10 people at the toll gate, but security forces have denied responsibility, saying troops used blanks to disperse people violating the curfew.
