The Presidency on Tuesday said that Nigerians looters leaving abroad and in Nigeria were behind the protest against President Muhammadu Buhari in London.
The President left Nigeria on Monday for official visit to the United Kingdom.
A presidential source, who does not want his name in prints, maintained that the protest was corruption fighting back.
He said “Barely 24 hours after President Muhammadu Buhari declared his intention to contest for another term in office as President of Nigeria, the camps of alleged looters and corrupt elements within and outside the country have been jolted, forcing them to push panic buttons including renting a motley crowd of professional demonstrators to protest against the President on his arrival into the United Kingdom.
He explained that extremely corrupt Nigerians who are custodians of slush funds stolen from Nigeria, and hiding in UK or are resident cronies of such elements, have colluded to form a league of protesters with a singular aim of distracting and disorganising the scheduled state visit of the President to England, for bilateral talks with Prime Minister Theresa May and other dignitaries.
The source said “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.
“This unpatriotic act is not unconnected to the Federal government policies to name and shame corrupt citizens and looters; to collate database of Nigerians with homes in UK who are not paying the right taxes, and the hot drive to prosecute all financial defaulters through bilateral and multilateral means.” he added
Another source said “The protest was benchmarked on an assemblage of local grievances and national challenges which the government is already tackling head on.
“Such as the herdsmen versus agrarian farmers clashes, fuel scarcity which no longer exists and trumped up charge of hunger in the land at a time when prices of food items are beginning to drop and inflation on the decrease.” he said.
Another presidency source said “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,“ he said.
Some security sources disclosed that the protesters were bent on embarrassing and humiliating the President throughout his stay in the UK.
The protesters have vowed that they will take their demonstrations to the venue of CHOGM holding later in the month in Britain, which President Buhari is attending as a Commonwealth Head of State.
When contacted, the Senior Special Assistants, Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu said that the President will not be distracted from his mission in the UK.