By Chioma Obinagwam
The protests that erupted on Saturday in most northern states in Nigeria over the planned military intervention by the country in Niger— a neighbouring northern state has thrown social media agog.
Confiance News gathered from the microblogging platform, Twitter on Saturday.
Reacting, a human rights activists and social media influencer, Nefertiti took to her official Twitter handle to criticize the protest.
She said: “I am one of Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s strongest Critics. But those protesting with placards in Kano State, should go home.
If you did not protest for 8 years under Buhari, then you should maintain the status quo. Are protests no longer a Haram?
The DSS should move in immediately.”
Another tweep, 100odds said, “Protests are only Haram when it’s not going to favor them , some double standard shii.”
On her part, human rights activist, Aisha Yesufu said,”Protest is no longer in the haram list?”
Contributing to the debate, Bigwig Austin said:
“Northern Nigeria I thought protest was Haram?
Buhari had been plunging this nation into debt sl@very in company of his henchman Emefiele but you kept mum.
It took you only 76 days post-Buhari to lift the veil?
How convenient? Pls don’t disrupt our democracy. Yes, we all can be selectively patriotic.”
According to the Quran Courses Institute, “Haram is an Arabic word meaning unlawful or forbidden. From an Islamic perspective, something haram is anything that has been deemed to be forbidden by Allah and His Messenger (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him).”
Confiance News, however, gathered from the same source that halal is the opposite (antonym) of haram, an Arabic term which means “allowed,” which means “lawful.”
Confiance News recalls that on 27 July 2023, when another group of soldiers overthrew the democratically elected president Mohamed Bazoum and installed Gen Abdourahmane Tchiani as the head of state.
The coup was motivated by the worsening security situation and anti-French sentiment in the country. Niger is a key partner in the fight against Islamist insurgents in the Sahel region and hosts French and US military bases.
