SAHARA REPORTERS
A group of women reportedly hired by President Bola Tinubu’s government for a counter-protest against the planned #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest have complained that they were abandoned after being used by the government.
SaharaReporters had reported that over 400 Nigerian women were hired by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders to hold a rally against the planned nationwide protest.
SaharaReporters gathered that some influential women leaders in the APC sent a circular to several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Abuja, asking them to mobilise 50 women each to Eagle Square, Abuja to be given 50kg bag of rice each as palliative.
However, after over 400 women were mobilised from various NGOs to Abuja, rather than get bags of rice as promised them, they were given banners saying, “Say No To Protest”.
They said their pictures were taken to make it look like they were not for the planned nationwide protest against hardship. Thereafter, they were left with neither rice nor transport fare as promised.
The circular sent to the NGOs on Friday and forwarded to SaharaReporters by a member of African Youth Union Commission, Esther Adelana, read, “URGENT: Good day distinguished young active citizens, please if you are in Abuja and can make your way to Eagle Square tomorrow Saturday 9am for palliative distribution by one of our partner accompanied with transport logistics. We need fifty young women.”
In multiple viral videos, some women confirmed SaharaReporters’ findings, saying that the APC and Tinubu’s government deceived them and left them stranded in Abuja after they were being used.
One of them said, “We were deceived into coming to Abuja for an empowerment rally only to be given placards for ‘Say No To Protest’. They didn’t give us water to drink, no food, no money. They left us stranded.”
“We were called by Tinubu that we would be empowered to oppose the planned protest. We came and we were abandoned in Abuja,” she added.
THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED IN SAHARA REPORTERS
