The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has criticized prominent lawyer and activist Deji Adeyanju for opposing his demolition activities in Abuja.
We recall that Adeyanju, along with activist Vincent Martins Otse, known as VeryDarkMan, led a protest against the demolition of Ruga, a settlement along Airport Road in Abuja, urging President Bola Tinubu to intervene and claiming the demolition was unjustified.
In response, Wike, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, dismissed Adeyanju as "jobless," attributing this as his motivation for activism. Wike, the former Governor of Rivers State, also alleged that Adeyanju had once sought his support to become the Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a request Wike said he declined.
He said,
"I saw one young man, they call him Adeyanju. He is from Kogi State. This young boy came to me that he wants to be the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP and I said no.
"I said he won't be, and he was not. I have no regret about it. He has suddenly become a civil society activist.
"He has no job and that's why he decided to turn to a civil society activist."
In other news, Adeyanju, has stated that President Bola Tinubu cannot change the ongoing hardship in Nigeria even if he was given 300 years to be in office.
According to him, the former Governor of Lagos State has no solution to the current hardship in Nigeria.
Adeyanju labelled Nigeria as an anti-poor people's nation, berating the economic status of the country, especially under the incumbent administration.
According to reports, Adeyanju expressed his displeasure with the Tinubu government during a recent interview where he spoke on other sundry issues like the arraignment of #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protesters, as well as Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi's presidential moves.
When asked about his perception of the current situation in Nigeria, the human rights lawyer said,
"This nation, as currently constituted, can be akin to a concentration camp where citizens are forced to stay. And if you doubt me, if you think that Nigeria is not a concentration camp, let's run a social experiment.
"Let the United States of America alone make their country visa-free to Nigerians, and let's count how many of us will remain. So that is what best describes this nation-a nation where the rich are not paying for doing business, for buying private jets.
"But the poor are taxed to pay triple the price, and now quadruple the price of petrol cannot be said to be a nation for poor people. This nation is anti-poor; by and large, it's an anti-poor people's nation, so that is my take. In terms of economics and politics, it does not favor the average Nigerian in any way.
"So, a nation where minors are being arraigned for terrorism for saying, "We are hungry; this is the reason why we are protesting; please, government should help us; government should stop insecurity.
"In response, the government says, 'Come on, lock them up for 93 days without food, starve them," and above all, slams them with treasonable felony charges and parades them like common criminals."
"And this is a nation where police chiefs are hustling to take pictures with bandits in Zamfara. They organize an elaborate ceremony, according to them, to integrate Boko Haram members into society. Then you arraign minors in the society for terrorism and treasonable felony charges, so our nation is an irony," Adeyanju mentioned.
"The same Tinubu who just bought a jet is the one you expect to get Nigerians out of hardship? Or is it the Tinubu who proposed a tax bill you're expecting to reverse his harmful policies? How can things get better under this kind of government? Even if you give Tinubu 300 years, things will never get better" he added.
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