2Face Called Off His Intended Lagos Protest And This Is Why We Think It Makes Sense
Legendary Nigerian musician 2Face Idibia seems to have disappointed fellow citizens after cancelling his intended Lagos protest.
The musician who had earlier incited a lot of people via social to join him to protest against the Buhari government in a statement explained a number of people including the opposition parties in Nigeria intended to use the protest to spread their message, something which violates the mission for the protest.
The protest dubbed “#iStandwithNigeria” and had received wide endorsement from colleagues in the industry and politicians including Ayodele Fayose. Likewise,others including Blackface and Stella Damascus opposed the move.
Now this is where we, Ghana’s Hub For Pop Culture And Urban Entertainment News – www.nydjlive.com think he had it right.
In as much as his team could have found a way to prevent people from using the protest to propagate their own selfish works, experience has over the years taught that you don’t create the slightest opportunity to be misunderstood.
Once myself and a number of radio personalities decided to join a demonstration led by the actors and actresses in Ghana against incessant power outages but upon realization that a number of the key figures leading the protest were actually being motivated by a political party, we had to pull out.
Many colleagues did not understand why I urged we pull out until during the 2016 presidential elections.
Now, below is the full statement issued by 2Face and his foundation.
On behalf of Innocent “2Baba” Idibia, we would like to apologize to the fans, colleagues and everyday Nigerians who feel let down by the cancellation of this protest. 2Baba’s aim was to lend his voice to make the government aware of the growing discontent due to the wildly escalating cost of living for Nigerians in Nigeria among other issues.
Arguably one of the country’s most influential musicians, he saw it fit to use his considerable platform; at the core of which are Nigerians, to amplify their voice. This is why he chose to march for the cause, and why he was so honoured when his industry colleagues pledged their support.
In line with the commitment of One Voice Nigeria to ensure a peaceful and impactful protest, The 2face Foundation and partners engaged with the security agencies to resolve all major security concerns but treacherous gaps remain that we are unwilling to ignore.
The risk of hijack by various political and sundry interests intent on using the platform to drive agendas that we as The 2face Foundation are not aligned with and therefore exposing protesters to high levels of danger is the main reason why 2baba regretfully had to withdraw himself from the march. He has refused to inadvertently present a platform for mischief makers to exploit.
2baba would like to express his great regret over these circumstances to everyone who feels disappointed. However, he hopes they will agree that as he said in the video announcing the development; ‘no protest is worthy he blood of any Nigerian’. He would also like to thank everyone; both individuals, and bodies like EiE which offered their support to him, and applaud their devotion to the nation.
The primary objective of the planned protest as stated from the very beginning was to aggregate the voices of the people and present to leadership at all levels who may be unclear about the reality of the hardship faced by Nigerians.
We have no doubt that we have articulated our demands and have been heard LOUD and CLEAR. We urge a quick and positive response from government and encourage Nigerians to take a cue from this experience and never hesitate to stand up to the leadership on any and every situation that requires action.
2baba will continue channel his passion for these issues using a range of effective channels in the future. He promises to continue working on avenues to help the Nigerian people be heard, he feels that is the least they deserve.
