The Presidential Guards Brigade has been put on intense alert following unusual activities, leading to suspicions of a coup plot in Nigeria.
On Sunday, according to Sahara Reporters, these suspicions led to emergency meetings involving the Commander of the Presidential Guards Brigade, Col. Adebisi Onasanya, President Bola Tinubu and the Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila.
In Nigeria of late, there has been tension amid the current hardship, skyrocketing inflation and high cost of living following the removal of fuel subsidy and floating of the Naira by President Tinubu’s administration.
The floating of the Naira allows the market forces to gauge its value and these strategies have pushed up the prices of goods and services astronomically, and increased the rate of inflation, worsening hardship in the country.
The Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, had only last week, warned citizens calling for a coup over the current economic hardship in Nigeria to refrain from such folly.
Musa, who remarked that the Armed Forces would continue to protect the country’s democracy, had warned that the long arms of the law would eventually catch up with the flag bearers of coup d’état.
He insisted that having a military coup in Nigeria was not an option as Nigerians want democracy and the country does better under democracy.
Nigeria’s Naira recently crashed to a record low against the dollar on the official market exchanging for N1980 to $1 on the parallel market and N1780 on the official market, keeping up its swift decline amid the government’s clampdown on currency speculators.
Meanwhile, protests against hardship, rising inflation and high cost of living in several parts of the country have erupted.
The protests have so far, been held in Kano, Ogun, Niger, Sokoto, Oyo Osun and Lagos states to express their anger and grievances with the unexpected level of hunger in the land.
Unions and groups were not left out of the fray as the Nigeria Labour Congress announced a nationwide protest slated for February 27 and 28, to demonstrate against the economic challenges facing Nigerians.
The NLC’s decision came after a 14-day ultimatum was given to the Nigerian Government regarding the widespread hardship nationwide.
Howver, the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, (SAN) have made appeals to the NLC to shelve its proposed nationwide protest.
The government also warned that the NLC would be in contempt of court if the planned protest was held. But a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, SAN had written to Fagbemi, stating that NLC would not be in contempt of court over its planned nationwide protest if it held.
