Patriotism Awareness Forum PAF (PAF) Commiserates With Government and People of Nigeria Over The Loss of Lives, Destruction and Looting of Properties And The Trauma Of Violence Unleashed On Their Psyche By The Protest of Insurrection and Anarchy

7th August, 2024

Press Statement 

Patriotism Awareness Forum PAF (PAF) Commiserates With Government and People of Nigeria Over The Loss of Lives, Destruction and Looting of Properties And The Trauma Of Violence Unleashed On Their Psyche By The Protest of Insurrection and Anarchy 

The Patriotism Awareness Forum (PAF) has commiserated with the government and people of Nigeria over the violence unleashed on the polity by the faceless and unknown organizers of a protest of insurrection and anarchy, which attempted to exploit the economic situation to provoke a breakdown of law and order for their sinister motive of overthrowing a democratically elected legitimate government.

We are sad and condemn in the strongest terms the violence-imbued protest of insurrection and anarchy in some states of the federation, particularly in the north, in line with the subversive agenda of the unknown and faceless organizers which the security agencies had uncovered and issued an alert to Nigerians even before the commencement of the protest.

The violence of disruption and destruction of the economic activities of innocent Nigerians, destruction of public and private properties, killing, maiming, looting, vandalism, treasonable act of waving a foreign country’s flag on Nigeria's soil just like terrorists groups Boko Haram and IPOB do, the trauma inflicted on the psyche of Nigerians and  the undermining of national security cannot be measured.

It is a known fact that Nigerians are going tough economic times because of the bold economic reforms initiated by the President Bola Tinubu administration to set Nigeria on the path to greatness and we can only appeal to our people to remain calm, unprovoked, peaceful, persevere and committed to democracy because the benefits of the economic re-engineering and retooling is near.

However, as we commiserate with the Nigerian people over the colossal loss and psychological terrorism suffered during the failed and unpopular uprising masqueraded as Hunger protest, we must commend them for standing resolute and refusing to be fooled by anti democratic elements and agents of destabilization who attempted to capitalize on their economic challenges to feather their anti democratic and anti national peace and security agenda.

We must also commend the security agencies for a yeomans job in ensuring that the violence plotted to be executed in the guise of a fraud of a protest was aborted in most places save for some few states.

We commend states governments that imposed curfew in order to arrest the violent protest/riots from degenerating into a total breakdown of law and order in their states.

As the failed and unpopular revolt of a protest has died a natural death due to the resistance and boycott by the people who saw through the deceit and the vigilance of the security agencies who were professional and diligent in the discharge of their function, we must admonish the Nigerian government and people, that we all should be vigilant at all times, because these agents of destabilization and darkness will not relent in their plot of provoking anarchy.

We are not unmindful of a change of strategy from the faceless and unknown organizers of the failed and unpopular protest of insurrection and anarchy that was promised to last for 10 days, but which from developments, had collapsed even from Day 1, due to to the resilience and resistance of the people who saw through the deceit, but we want to inform them, that we the Nigerian people have made vigilance our watchword.

PAF urge the Nigerian government to expose the desperate politicians that actively participated in the sponsoring of violence using this attempted insurrection and bring them to justice. These includes those who in the heat of desperation, mobilized the undiscerning mob and set them to go after the lives and properties of Nigerians in some states. 

We equally charge the government and security agencies to unmask those that procured and distributed the flags of a foreign country to rioters and solicited those countries to invade Nigeria and even baited the military to overthrow the country’s democratic government to satisfy their evil, dastardly and sinister selfish interest. We cannot afford to tolerate such affront on the peace and security of our country.

God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria 

Thank you.

Yours Sincerely,

Nelson Ekujumi,     

Convener.

Peter Claver Oparah,

Co-Convener.