Senator behind hunger protests, Wike alleges

A senator is behind the protest which shook the nation on Thursday, ac­cording to Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Minister, Nyesom Wike.

He said this after an emergency Security Council meeting in the na­tion’s capital, on Thursday.

Wike did not disclose the identi­ty of the senator but said security agencies would soon invite the fed­eral lawmaker.

According to him, it was discov­ered that the senator called some security operatives to accompany a truckload of food for the protesters.

The minister, who admitted that protests are allowed in a democracy, said the protesters owe it a duty to de­mocracy to respect the court order re­stricting their activities to the MKO Abiola National Stadium in Abuja.

He said; “We had said before now that we will continue to brief the press as we monitor the protest of people who say they are protesting against bad governance and hunger in the country.

“We believe that this is a demo­cratic government and so we must act according to the rule of law. We also believe that this protest is their entitlement so that government can address the issues raised. Obeying the rule of law is obeying court or­ders.

“We are doing quite a lot to change the lives of the people. You are aware of the court order yester­day (Wednesday). The court did not stop protests, it only restricted them to the National Stadium.

“We had come out to say clearly that one of the reasons we appealed against the protest was that we be­lieve some miscreants will hijack the process and cause destruction of property within the FCT. See what happened in some of the states today. Now, look at the loss of lives. If such a thing happens in the FCT, what do you think people would say? Here we have the internation­al community carrying out their businesses.”