President Bola Tinubu’s government has accused Labour Party’s Peter Obi and his supporters of instigating a ‘coup’ and should be held responsible for anarchy. 

Amid planned nationwide protests over economic hardship in the country, Bayo Onanuga, a media aide to Mr Tinubu, in an article on Saturday, accused Mr Obi and his supporters of planning protests to instigate anarchy in the country. 

“Peter Obi’s supporters are the people planning mayhem in Nigeria: Obi should be held responsible for anarchy,” Mr Onanuga wrote. “Don’t be fooled: the malcontents planning to stage nationwide protests are supporters of Peter Obi, the failed presidential candidate of the Labour Party. And he should be held responsible for whatever crisis emanates from the action.”

Mr Onanuga further said “If they understand the meaning of their hashtags, they will realise they are clarion calls for treason. Wanting to end an elected government is high treason. Wanting revolution is a call for a coup d’état, which is also high treason. President Tinubu has a four-year mandate to run his agenda. Those calling for protest should wait till 2027 to either re-elect him or elect their messiah, Mr Peter Obi.”

Though the country’s economic crisis predated Mr Tinubu’s government, his recent policies—including the removal of fuel subsidy and floating the naira—exacerbated the situation. The removal of the subsidy has caused petrol prices to surge from N145 to N710 per litre, and the naira has depreciated to roughly N1,500 to the dollar. 

Economic experts and the International Monetary Fund lauded the measures as bold reforms. However, the resultant inflation has sparked protests across several states, including Niger, Osun, Ibadan, and Lagos, Mr Tinubu’s home state. 

The federal government distributed trucks of rice to states to cushion effects of hunger and raised minimum wage to N70,000 from N30,000.