Aisha Yesufu faults Peter Obi over comments on 2012 fuel subsidy protests

Activist and prominent supporter of the Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, Aisha Yesufu, has publicly criticised Obi’s recent comments regarding the 2012 Occupy Nigeria protests, which opposed fuel subsidy removal under former President Goodluck Jonathan.

In a YouTube video posted on Thursday, Yesufu disagreed with Obi’s assertion that there was no need for mass protests when fuel prices were increased from ₦87 to ₦120 during Jonathan’s administration.

“First of all, I’m going to start with where Mr Peter Obi said there was no need to protest during Jonathan’s time. I think that’s a very wrong allusion… like there’s no need to protest,” Yesufu said.

She stated that protest is a vital component of democracy, regardless of who is in power.

“People are protesting every day in countries that are doing very well. There’s never a time where there’s no need to protest,” she added.

Yesufu warned that if Obi envisions a presidency without public demonstrations, he should reconsider.

“If Mr Obi thinks he’s gonna get into office and think people will not protest no matter how good he is, then he should drop that,” she said.

The activist also argued that the protests during Jonathan’s tenure were justified, noting that people can only respond to present conditions, not future consequences.

Her words: “At that time, people were protesting against ₦120. The ₦900 of today was in the future. Nobody protests for the future.

“If there was any time a protest should have happened, it was during Jonathan.”