Take-It-Back Movement: Tinubu’s speech failed to address Nigerians’ concerns over rising fuel costs

The Take-It-Back (TIB) Movement, a pro-democracy organization and key organizer of the ongoing #EndBadGovernance protests in Nigeria, has criticized President Bola Tinubu’s recent speech as inadequate and academic in tone.

In a statement signed by Festus Ifadola Afofun, Ogun State Coordinator, the group argued that the speech failed to address the pressing issues driving the protests, such as high costs and attendant hardship.

Instead, the President’s address was seen as intimidating peaceful protesters. The TIB Movement emphasized that a presidential statement following nationwide protests should offer concrete actions to mitigate the crisis, not just rhetorical flourishes. In response, the group vowed to adopt a more multi-dimensional approach in their advocacy.

The statement reads, “It is our assessment that President Tinubu’s speech of Sunday, August 4th, 2024, could qualify at best as an article submission for academic journals. The article, which masqueraded as a presidential address, however, did not ‘address’ the pressing issues that led people to protest in the first place.

“The daily increasing cost of living cannot be reduced to an academic article when people are dying from hunger and terrible living conditions every day, while political office holders continue to award billions to themselves for doing almost nothing to contribute to the commonwealth.

“Apart from the mention of an overstated ‘Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)’ initiative, which has been rehashed by previous administrations as a future possible relief from PMS dependence, the reality of dealing with the current increasing cost of PMS did not receive a worthy mention in President Tinubu’s long speech.

“It is only those who survive this PMS era who can live to witness the phase of conversion to CNG. Since President Tinubu’s careless declaration that ‘subsidy is gone’ upon being sworn in last May, the price of fuel has continued to rise astronomically, which has invariably affected the prices of food items and other essential commodities and services.

“A presidential statement following nationwide protests is expected to address these high costs and also hint at what actions are being taken to mitigate the attendant hardship.

“Just as the President refused to address this root cause but chose to intimidate peaceful protesters as implied by his speech, we shall also now adopt multi-dimensional approaches. As the saying goes, when the bird learns to fly without perching, the hunter learns to aim without missing. It is our resolve to continue our agitations using diverse means until things improve.

“As leaders of the protest in Sango-Ota, we reject invitations to meet with the government of Ogun State or its agents as long as it concerns our second yet simple demand to fix the bad roads. If you meet the demands, you have met us. Failure to meet the demands, you cannot meet us.

“For emphasis, our national demand is for the reduction of the fuel pump price, while our local demand is for the Ogun State government to reconstruct the terrible roads in the state as the roads are killing people. We are particularly focused on the following roads:

“Ahmadiya/U-turn to Sango/Toll gate road; Sango to Abeokuta road; The inner roads from Adalemo to Bible college; Road from Berger inward Akute to Ijoko Sango; The Atan-Lusada-Agbara road leading to Agbara and Mile Two, which is yet to attain meaningful progress.

“We acknowledge that we saw your agents, especially those who came through the Olota of Ota, to ambush and disrupt our peaceful protests. The first instance was at the toll gate and later at Sango under-bridge, led physically by the Chief Imam of Sango-Ota.

“They should be cautioned as they are provoking peaceful protesters to resistance. The resort to disrupting peaceful protest is unwarranted and disappointing, especially coming from the Olota of Ota, Oba Prof. Adeyemi Obalanlege (Olofin Adimula), whom we held in high esteem. We will not be intimidated, no matter the confrontations and attempts at provocation.

“We are committed to peaceful protest as a democratically approved right and means to put forward our yearnings. Again, the only way to meet us is to meet our demands. Once our simple demands are met, then we have met,” the statement added.