August 1st Protest: We Will Not Standby And Allow Anarchy Befall Our Nation – Army

Media Briefing by the Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba

I will say that this briefing will be incomplete without saying a word on the much talked about nationwide (protest). Essentially, I will say that there are several factors to examine in the planned nationwide protest().

It is good to examine the motivation behind the protest. Is this protest motivation by opposition politics, is this protest motivated by independent parties, is this protest motivated by sovereign interference or is this protest motivated by terrorist groups. Also, is this protest motivated by any number of organizations that have fed on the frustrations of Nigerians to create this situation?

I will say that for us in the Military, the Constitution is clear as to how and when the Military gets involved and our responsibility to the Nation. On the other hand, I will further say that whilst citizens have a right to peaceful protest, they do not have a right to mobilise for anarchy and unleash terror. It is easy to see that the contemporary context of the planned protest is to shadow the happenings in Kenya which I must say is violent and adds that it remains unresolved.

Already, we have detected some unscrupulous elements bent on hijacking the planned protest with the aim of making it violent, many are therefore following in ignorance. For instance, there are indications that if your possess a smartphone, if you possess a car, if you possess a shop, if you own a house or even use aircondition in your house, you have been labelled a target. Other targets that have been added include: places of worship, businesses, markets, ethnic groups amd members of other political parties, amongst other items and areas targetted.

Accordingly, the level of violence been envisaged can only be descirbed as a state of anarchy. The Armed Forces on its part will not stand by and allow anarchy to befall our nation. This is because we have seen wars and witnessed anarchy in countries in which we have operated particularly during the time of ECOMOG or during our peacekeeping missions in various countries. I believe some people out there may fantasize about war or state of anarchy thinking that it is like what they see in movies. I assure you that war or state of anarchy is not what you see in movies. It involves real people, real situations and real life.

A situation of anarchy or war should not be fantasized. People lose loved ones and everything they toiled for or possess in timws of war or anarchy and I will put it simply by saying that horrible and ugly things happen in that situations. We must never as a people bring it up on ourselves. On the whole it must be said that the timing, and the present atmosphere of hardship in the country is different from other times when protests were held in the past in this country.

It must also be said that if you ignite the fire, there is no telling how far it will burn. We must allow cool heads to reign and give the Government the opportunity to further remedy the situation and make our nation flourish again.

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