Hunger Protest, Attempted Regime Change — Council of State

The Council of State has described a recent protest against bad governance in the country as an attempted regime change. The council, comprising former Presidents and Heads of State, the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives, the serving and retired Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, as well as state governors, also passed a vote of confidence on President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

The former leaders who passed the confidence vote on President Tinubu included Generals Yakubu Gowon, Muhammadu Buhari, and Abdulsalami Abubakar, as well as former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Briefing State House correspondents after the meeting, the Minister of Solid Mineral Development, Dr. Dele Alake, said the council praised Tinubu for resisting a forcible takeover of government. Alake said the National Security Adviser, NSA Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, briefed the council on the security situation in the country, especially on issues before, during, and after the nationwide protests.

He said the #EndBadGovernance protest was not a protest but a movement, adding that the Council of State thought that nobody should be allowed to truncate the hard-earned democracy and that any change would be through the ballot box and not by insurrection.

Seven ministers made presentations to the council on the progress being made on economic diversification and the economy. Alake said the council thanked Nigerians for resisting any unconstitutional move to change the government, adding that if anybody is not satisfied with the government, there is always an election coming, so they should wait for the election and cast their vote.

On the vote of confidence passed on Tinubu’s administration, the governor of Kwara State and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, said the council unanimously passed a vote of confidence on Tinubu in the way he had governed the country.