President Bola Tinubu has warned Nigerians against enemies of democracy who may want to exploit the general discontent in the country to endanger our democracy.
In his nationwide address relayed on major television stations on Sunday, the President outlined the efforts his administration has made to steady the economy and expressed the belief they will bear fruit.
Tinubu stated that he made the difficult choice to remove the fuel subsidy and unify the foreign exchange system to curb the greed and profiteering exploited by smugglers and rent-seekers.
He said Nigeria had for years been unwittingly subsidizing petroleum consumption in neighboring countries at the expense of its own citizens. The policy, he said, had left the economy weakened.
His warning against agents of destabilization comes against the background that some protesters may have an agenda beyond the nation’s socio-economic challenges.
There has been deep concern over the recent display of Russian flags in Kano and a few others cities in Northern Nigeria during the protests.
The fear is that some of the protesters may have been influenced by forces beyond the country’s borders.
The Press Secretary of the Russian Embassy in Nigeria, Yury Paramonov has however, reacted to the report by denying that Russia may have been involved in the ongoing protests in the country.
He said the Russian Federation was unaware of such display and was not involved in any way with the protests
He said, “The Russian Embassy in Nigeria does not have any information about any groups of protesters using the Russian flag or other state symbols of our country.” He said even if such incidents did occur, it would be the decision of individuals, but assured they did not have any backing of the Russian Federation.
“We do not know why they might have used Russian flags” he said.
“The Russian Federation is in no way involved in the current events in Nigeria. Moreover, Russia does not provide any material or financial support to the protesters.”
It is not clear if the protesters in Kano are affiliated with any pro-Russian group or they simply made amateur flags.
Already, Nigeria’s Northern neighbours, Niger, Mali and Boukina Fasso are militarily aligned to Russia, which may be fueling a growing support for Russia and a corresponding rise in anti-West sentiment within the subregion.
