Goodluck Jonathan insensitive for comments on subsidy protest– ACN

Action Congress of Nigeria has
accused President Goodluck Jonathan
of insensitivity to the suffering of the
masses.
The party, which reacted to the
President’s condemnation of the
January fuel price hike protests, stated
this in a statement on Thursday by its
National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed.
Jonathan, at the 52nd Independence
anniversary lecture in Abuja on
Tuesday, said the protests were
sponsored.
The ACN wondered how a President
“who enjoys everything free at the expense of tax-paying Nigerian, could insult the sensibility of
suffering Nigerians on their right to protest an unjust fuel hike”.
It said, “The President’s attack on Nigerians who resisted the imposition of unjust price hikes and
the organisers clearly portrays him as a President who is hostage to his thoughts and one
completely out of touch not only with ordinary Nigerians but also with universal trends, because
in Egypt during the Spring protests, in Thailand when the Red Shirts took over Bangkok, in the
United States of America during the Occupy Wall Street, protesters were fed and provided with
water blankets and medicine.”
The ACN said those involved in the protests were lawyers, doctors, businessmen, bankers
journalists, artistes, the clergy and other accomplished professionals.
The party said, “To claim that this class of Nigerians were lured to the protest ground because of
a bottle of water and food is to say the least not only uncharitable but also a reflection of the
shallowness of the thought process of the President’s advisers.”
The ACN urged Nigerians “not to be bullied by a government who is always too ready to find a
scapegoat for its incompetence”.
It advised them to be ready to protest and speak out against any unfair and unjust government
decisions.
The party said, “The President should organise his own solidarity protests and supply the rented
crowd truckloads of water and expensive food.”: