The Presidency has confirmed that Nigerians in the United Kingdom, UK, were protesting against President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2019 re-election bid, on his arrival to London.
A Presidential Aide, who confirmed this to State House Reporters, on Tuesday, noted that the protest was staged barely 24 hours after President Buhari declared his intention to seek re-election in 2019.
He alleged that looters and corrupt elements within and outside Nigeria had been jolted to push “panic buttons including renting a motley crowd of professional demonstrators to protest against the President, on his arrival in the United Kingdom.”
He said extremely corrupt Nigerians who are custodians of slush funds stolen from Nigeria, and hiding in the UK or are resident cronies of such elements, had colluded to form a league of protesters, with a singular aim of distracting and disorganising Buhari’s scheduled State visit to England, for bilateral talks with Prime Minister, Theresa May, and other dignitaries.
He quoted security sources as revealing that the protesters were bent on embarrassing and humiliating President Buhari, throughout his stay in the UK.
According to him, the protesters have vowed to take their demonstrations to the venue of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, holding later in the month in Britain, which Buhari would be attending.
“Esteemed Nigerians home and abroad, friends and business investors in Nigeria, should please see through the veil of the motive behind the Abuja House, Kensington London demonstration. It was an orchestrated act of desperation, and a ploy to blackmail and hoodwink the President from concentrating on his anti-corruption campaign, which is fast gaining grounds locally and internationally”, the source stated authoritatively.
“This unpatriotic act is not unconnected to the Federal Government’s policies to name and shame corrupt citizens and looters; to collate a database of Nigerians with homes in the UK, who are not paying the right taxes, and the hot drive to prosecute all financial defaulters through bilateral and multilateral means.”
“It is obvious that this is a clear-cut incident of corruption fighting back. Many of the beneficiaries of corruption and slush funds cannot withstand another devastating blow of Buhari’s anti-corruption sledge hammer.
“Hence, they are resolute to derail the apple cart, in order to save their ugly faces and sit back to enjoy the loot in their personal banks. Some of the protesters are not even Nigerians, but hired hatchet men paid to do the dirty job.”
