The Lagos State Police command has said that the scheduled nationwide protest being organized by popular Nigerian Musician, Innocent Idibia, popularly known as ‘Tuface’, would not be allowed to hold in the State.
Fatai Owoseni, the Lagos state police commissioner, says that the force has credible intelligence that “hoodlums” are planning to hijack the protest which the singer said was to register the frustration of ordinary Nigerians over the level of suffering in the country.
The commissioner added that he was blocking the proposed protest because the police believe that Tu-baba, as Tuface is also called, lacks the“capacity to contain such a crowd” that are expected to take part in the exercise.
“Information reaching us revealed that some hoodlums are planning to hijack the peaceful protest,” Owoseni was quoted as saying.
“And as such, we won’t allow it to hold in Lagos. We know that Tuface does not have the capacity to contain such a crowd and we will not fold our hands and watch while things go out of hand.”
Tuface Idibia had taken to the social media to mobilise Nigerian youths to join him on Monday, February 5, to protest the inability of the present administration to deliver on its numerous campaign promises of making life much better for the citizens.
The protest which is expected to hold simultaneously in various cities across the Nation, was later shifted from the initial date to February 6,the day President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to return to Nigeria from his 10-day vacation.
Organisers say they wanted the President to be in the country by the time the protest is on.
Recently, Tuface has become more of an activist than a musician. During the 2015 general election, the musician floated a voter-education campaign titled: “Vote not Fight”, which was aimed at educating Nigerian youths on the need for a violence-free election.
However, some supporters of the government of the day has criticized the planned protest saying that Tuface has become a politician and no more a professional singer.
They flooded the social media with pictures of the musician in company of politicians from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, saying that Tuface was only angry that his “friends” had been ousted from office.
Recall that the former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, who is now a member of the Senate, reportedly gave Tuface a car gift during the singer’s wedding to Akwa Ibom-born Annie Macaulay-Idibia. The high society wedding took place in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
But Tuface has denied that politics has any part to play in his decision to protest against bad leadership in the country.
He released a statement via the social media urging politicians and even labour unions to stay off his protest.