The social media has been agog in the last few days following news of an impending nationwide mass protest by Nigerian youths.  

The protest, stated for August 1 is to express their dissatisfaction over the high cost of living, food scarcity, unemployment and bad governance in the country.

Reacting to the viral calls for the planned protest on X, Bayo Onanuga, the special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on information and strategy, described calls for the nationwide protests under the hashtags #TinubuMustGo and #Revolution2024 as treasonable.

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However, SolaceBase recalls that in 2012, Tinubu, who at the time was the national leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and his supporters led an #OccupyNigeria rally against then-president Goodluck Jonathan for deciding to remove oil subsidies.

The anti-subsidy removal protest was later propagated to unseat Jonathan and his People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

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Then, Tinubu accused the Jonathan administration of betraying its social contract with the people by suddenly removing fuel subsidies.

In fact, the same Onanuga asking Nigerians not to take part in the August protest wrote in 2012 that “He who sows a storm will reap the whirlwind. And so let it be for Mr. Goodluck Jonathan and his cabinet. Amen,” he wrote on  X on January 3, 2012 in support of the nationwide protest.

Twelve years later, Onanuga is kicking against an impending protest against the government under which he serves.