By Abdullahi Yusuf
A group, Nigeria Patriotic Front Movement (NPFM), Northern charter, says it is moving its ongoing protests against bad governance to the local government areas of Kano State, as a matter of strategy.
The movement told a press conference in Kano on Tuesday that the decision was informed by the destruction of properties witnessed at the onset of the protests on August 1.
“Considering the severe destruction of properties that Kano has suffered since August 1,we consider it prudent to re-strategize and decentralize our peaceful protests so as to cope with the peculiarities of our environment.
“Therefore,we urge all anti bad governance protesters in Kano to conduct their peaceful processions in their respective local government areas until further notice,” the Chairman of the movement, Comrade Abdulmajid Yakubu Daudu, said.
Daudu said the fight for good governance is a continuous exercise and must take place at every level of government – local,state and federal.
The group then criticized President Bola Tinubu’s nationwide broadcast, saying, the President blamed organizers of the anti-hunger protests for the ensuing violence,but “silent on the thuggery, bloodletting and murderous conduct of those who unleashed mayhem in his name, especially in Kano where public and private properties were looted,destroyed and set ablaze.”
“This havoc was not spontaneous.It was,in certain respects, targeted. How do we explain the looting and arson at NCC office, or the attack on the Kano State High Court,” the movement queried.
It then called on Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf to further relax the 24-hour curfew he imposed on the state to enable the people resume their normal businesses.
“We restate our commitment to continue the struggle against bad governance, extreme poverty, high cost of living and grand corruption in Nigeria,” the group added.