No Matter How Good The Intentions Are, The Forthcoming Will Be Hijacked – Mike Ejiofor

A former Director, Department of State Services, Mike Ejiofor has come out to share why the protest staged to kick against attempts by Goodluck Jonathan-led government to remove petrol subsidy in 2012 didn’t turn violent.

He recently had his say while speaking to the press, and Nigerians have been reacting.

According to him, the protest did not turn violent mainly because of the body language of the former President who allowed everything to go on smoothly, and the situation was not even as bad as what we have now.

He added that the forthcoming protest would definitely be hijacked no matter how good the intentions behind it are.

His words, “The 2012 protest didn’t turn violent, one, because of the body language of the sitting president then. He allowed everything to go and the situation was not as bad as what we have now. Now, it can be exploited because people are hungry, desperate and want to use anything to vent their anger

It is their legitimate right to protest as enshrined in the constitution. But I think they (organisers of protest) did us a lot of good by giving sufficient notice to the government of their intentions to go on protest and you can see the grounds of appeals from various stakeholders, interests groups appealing to them to shelve the plan.

No matter how good their intentions are, I believe this will be hijacked eventually.”

The fear is very high that this protest will be hijacked. Some people see this government as the best government whatever because of their personal interest not because of national interest… they would also represent their own interest, not the interest of the government, so that’s why we are afraid it might be hijacked.

Some people might tell you that this APC government is not doing well, others will tell you that this is the best government.”