Former governor of Osun State and former Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bisi Akande, has said that the 2020 #EndSARS protest across Nigeria was “designed to be the end” of Bola Tinubu, the current Nigeria President.
Akande, while speaking on a podcast, alleged that the Obidients, a movement that supported the 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, designed the protest “from America.”
Recall that Nigerians trooped to the streets and major cities for days, across the country in 2020, protesting against brutality by the Special Anti-Robbery Squads (SARS), a unit in the Nigeria Police, and called for the reform of the Nigeria Police Force.
“#EndDSARS was aimed to be the end of Tinubu. Yes, #ENDSARS was designed to be the end of Tinubu. Those behind the ENDSARS knew that’s what they were doing. What do you call them? The Obidients were behind the EndSARS.
Yes, it was manufactured from America. And was brought in just to stop him. I’m not saying Obi. The Obidients came from America to do the EndSARS. And later became a movement to form a party and they couldn’t form a party and join whichever party,” Akande said.
When asked about his thoughts on the link between the Obidients movement and Peter Obi, Akande said
“Maybe Obi’s party, I don’t know. Maybe Obi’s movement, I don’t know. But the Obidients were behind the EndSARS. It was well planned, organised with a lot of money from America.”
Responding to why Tinubu was unable to foresee the protest as an attempt to “end him,” the former Osun State governor added that ‘not every ambush is detected.’