Former Presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party, (NCP) in the 2015 Presidential election, Martin Onovo has decried the continued detention of over 1,400 Nigerian youths who took part in the #EndBadGovernance protests across the country and vowed to participate fully in the upcoming October 1 protest.
Onovo in a chat with journalists yesterday, stressed that it was the fundamental right of every Nigerian to embark on peaceful protest because of suffering caused by bad governance.
“While I don’t support violent protest because it cannot solve the problem, the constitution allows for peaceful protest, therefore it violates their rights to arrest and keep them in prison,” he said.
The two-time presidential candidate accused the present government of violating the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The decision to award the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway contract to a vested interest according to Onovo is a violation of the constitution and oath of office taken by the president to be honest and transparent.
“There was no public bidding for the road contract. As an engineer, I can tell you that the contract was awarded 10 times higher than what it should be, all because of vested interest’.
“What we are practicing is not democracy, Nigeria today is in the jungle and let nobody deceive us about democracy because all that the government is doing has no indices of democracy”.
Onovo revealed his intention to be part of the next protest in October as long as the government is not prepared to do things better.
“The government should build more prisons because people like me is ready to go there this time around,” Onovo said.