In complete disregard of the pleas from Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Nigerian president to suspend all forms of protests, some #Endbadgovernance protesters, on Monday, took to the streets, holding the national flags of different countries but the most common one was the Russian flags being waved near the Nyanya bridge in Abuja.
This uncanny trend of bearing Russian flags was first observed in Kano, on the first day of the protest when the demonstrators had defied a 24-hour curfew to carry out their protest, appealing to Russian President Vladimir Putin, to intervene in Nigeria.
When the aggrieved protesters were queried, they said they were seeking Putin’s intervention, because of a lack of trust in President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
What They’re Saying
A protester in Abuja, Auwalu Idi, had said;
“We are raising the Russian flag because we believe Tinubu is playing his masters’ scripts — the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the United States of America.”
Why It Matters
The common request by the protesters’ was for an end to hunger, food inflation, bad governance, and for fuel subsidies to be resumed once more.
By hoisting the Russian flag and clamouring for Vladimir Putin’s assistance in governing the country, the citizens have shown that they have completely lost trust and faith in the present administration’s policies.
At the time of filing this report, the Nigerian government had yet to react to this protest development but it does beg the question, “Why Russia and Vladimir Putin? Vould it be because Putin has in several instances, shown his gritty and severe approach to forcing opponents to bend to his will?”
