Protest against Tunji-Ojo waste of resources, says group
A group under the auspices of Ondo APC Elders Movement for Tinubu has condemned the February 6 protest in Abuja demanding the resignation of Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.
A group under the auspices of Ondo APC Elders Movement for Tinubu has condemned the February 6 protest in Abuja demanding the resignation of Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.
At an expanded meeting of the group in Akure, it described the demonstration as mere rabble-rousing, orchestrated from Ondo State, squandering scarce resources on a baseless wild-goose chase rather than genuine civic engagement.
A communiqué at the end of the meeting, read by the coordinator of the movement, Otunba Agboola Kelly, said it was becoming irritating and urged the security agencies to live up to their billing ‘’by arresting those behind this.’’
He said the protest revived long-debunked claims that the minister’s National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate was forged, an allegation conclusively resolved in 2023.
The group said: “NYSC, the sole authority empowered to authenticate national service records, formally confirmed the certificate’s authenticity.
“It explained that Tunji-Ojo was initially mobilised in 2006, but faced an administrative issue (abscondment), was later remobilised, completed service and received the physical certificate in February 2023 due to a rectified technical omission.
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‘’No court, statutory body, or credible new evidence has challenged this official position. Yet the body returned to the streets empty-handed with no fresh proof, no contrary institutional findings, no judicial pronouncement, only recycled accusations amplified by manufactured outrage.
This is not accountability. It is sponsored harassment masquerading as activism.
“Professional agitators must be placed where they belong. More troubling is the demand that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu overrides institutional clearance and succumbs to mob pressure.
‘’This logic implies that official verifications become irrelevant once a crowd assembles, eroding due process and turning governance into endless cycles of disruption.
‘’Comparisons to previous ministerial resignations are dishonest. Those cases involve admissions of wrongdoing or unresolved contradictions that do not apply here. The minister’s NYSC certificate and WAEC results remain authenticated and unchallenged.
‘’The country cannot be governed by staged outrage or agitators seeking relevance through controversy. If a minister cleared by statutory bodies can be hounded by persistent misinformation, no clearance, institution, or rule of law holds meaning.
‘’The February 6 protest by CLITA uncovered no wrongdoing. Instead, it laid bare a disturbing pattern in our political life, the deliberate dismissal of verified facts, the undermining of institutions, and the weaponisation of settled issues to create distraction, exert pressure and pursue narrow political ends.
‘’These tactics offer no benefit to the public and must be rejected in favour of facts, institutional integrity and real progress.’’
The body called on security agencies to probe the activities ‘’of these professional agitators so that they are not used by opponents of politicians to cause mayhem, undermine the government and discredit this divine administration of President Tinubu.’’
