Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, has taken a swipe at Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka, legal luminary Femi Falana (SAN), pastor Tunde Bakare, and other leaders of the 2012 #OccupyNigeria protests.
Obi accused them of selective activism and turning a blind eye to the current economic hardship under President Bola Tinubu.
The firmer governor of Anambra state, made the comments on Wednesday during a memorial lecture in honour of elder statesman and Ijaw leader, the late Chief Edwin Clark.
He hailed Clark as a patriotic Nigerian who made sacrifices for national progress, while lamenting the silence of other notable figures who once mobilised mass protests against former President Goodluck Jonathan’s attempt to remove fuel subsidy.
“We were in this country when people were protesting, when there was no need to protest under Goodluck Jonathan,” Obi said.
“Where are those protesters? Have they died? Where are they?”
Obi referenced the 2012 #OccupyNigeria protests that paralysed major cities after Jonathan’s government increased petrol price from N87 to N120 per litre, citing the need to remove the unsustainable subsidy.
The protest, led by Soyinka, Falana, Bakare and several civil society groups, eventually forced the government to reverse the policy.
In contrast, Obi noted, Tinubu’s administration, which came into office on May 29, 2023, eliminated fuel subsidy on day one—causing prices to jump from N145 to over N1,000 per litre, before slightly stabilising at N950.
The naira has also suffered massive devaluation following the government’s exchange rate unification policy, plunging from N750 to over N1,500 against the dollar.
“Jonathan increased fuel from N87 to N120 and people were protesting. Now it’s N900 and they’re not protesting. Are they dead?” Obi queried.
“People protested when $1 was N180, and now that it is N1,500, they’re nowhere to be found.”
Despite mounting economic pressure and rising costs of living, most of the prominent figures who vocally opposed Jonathan’s subsidy removal have remained quiet, Obi said.
He pointed out that while the elite may be silent, ordinary Nigerians have begun to express their frustration, referencing the spontaneous protests that erupted from August 1 to 10, 2023, across several states.
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