One of the chieftains of the Labour Party, LP, Prof. Pat Utomi has revealed what a senior civil servant in Abuja told him about the forthcoming nationwide protest in August.
The LP chieftain made the statement on his official X handle after Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy accused him of being among those planning the forthcoming nationwide protest.
In the post that he shared on his page, he said he knew nothing about the protest. He said it was until after he called a senior civil servant in Abuja that he heard about the protest. He said the civil servant told him that if he has the intention of coming to Nigeria, he should be careful so that he doesn’t run into flight disruptions due to the protest in August.
Here is what he wrote on his official X handle;
“First, I have been resident in Washington DC and occupied by an intense fellowship for months with additional work on a book project. I did not even know demonstrations were being planned until I called a senior civil servant in Abuja whom I sent a questionnaire on public policy reforms. I mentioned I would be in Ghana for events around the AU summit and he said if you will come into Nigeria, be careful so that the demonstrations in August won’t make you run into flight disruptions. That is how I heard of protests being planned. This morning, when I heard about Onanuga’s comment, my inclination was to ignore it but another caller suggested that it could be a deliberate falsehood to rationalize a sinister plan. I would like Mr Onanuga to present any evidence to justify his comment”….Seë_Morë