Buhari arriving London, late last nightNigerian Presidency has viewed a protest staged today in London by some Nigerians, barely 24 hours after President Muhammadu Buhari declared his intention to contest for another term in office as corruption fighting back.
The Presidency described the protesters as residing in what it called “the camps of alleged looters and corrupt elements within and outside the country”who have been jolted by the President’s declaration, forcing them to push panic buttons.
The Presidency sources said that the key masters of corruption rented a motley crowd of professional demonstrators to protest against the President on his arrival into the United Kingdom.
According to the sources in Aso Villa and Britain, extremely corrupt Nigerians who are custodians of slush funds stolen from Nigeria, and hiding in UK or are resident cronies of such elements, have colluded to form a league of protesters with a singular aim of distracting and disorganizing the scheduled state visit of the President to England, for bilateral talks with Prime Minister, Theresa May and other dignitaries.
“Esteemed Nigerians home and abroad, friends and business investors in Nigeria, should please see through the veil of the motive behind the Abuja House, Kensington London demonstration. It was an orchestrated act of desperation and a ploy to blackmail and hoodwink the President from concentrating on his anti corruption campaign, which is fast gaining grounds locally and internationally,” our sources said.
They added: “this unpatriotic act is not unconnected to the Federal government policies to name and shame corrupt citizens and looters; to collate database of Nigerians with homes in UK who are not paying the right taxes, and the hot drive to prosecute all financial defaulters through bilateral and multilateral means.”
A public affairs analyst who prefers anonymity also said: “the protest was benchmarked on an assemblage of local grievances and national challenges which the government is already tackling head on. Such as the herdsmen versus agrarian farmers’ clashes, fuel scarcity which no longer exists and trumped up charge of hunger in the land at a time when prices of food items are beginning to drop and inflation on the decrease.”
His view was buttressed by our Presidency sources who further repeated the position of Mr. President who famously said that corruption is endemic and Nigerians need to kill it before it kills Nigerians.
“It is obvious that this is a clear cut incident of corruption fighting back. Many of the beneficiaries of corruption and slush funds cannot withstand another devastating blow of Buhari’s anti corruption sledge hammer. Hence, they are resolute to derail the apple cart in order to save their ugly faces and sit back to enjoy the loot in their personal banks. Some of the protesters are not even Nigerians but hired hatchet men paid to do the dirty job,“ we gathered.
According to security sources, the protesters are said to be bent on embarrassing and humiliating the President throughout his stay in the UK.
An insider vowed that they will take their demonstrations to the venue of CHOGM holding later in the month in Britain, which President Buhari is attending as a Commonwealth Head of State.
The Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu said in reaction that the President will not be distracted from his mission in the UK.
