Presidency yesterday alleged that about 2,000 people have been hired by the political opposition to protest against heads of military institutions in the country on Monday.

Presidential media aide, Mr Garba Shehu, who disclosed this in a statement, warned politicians against misleading the public by inciting protests against service chiefs.

Shehu said a group of politicians and beneficiaries of Boko Haram insurgency were paying people to join the planned protests against the country’s service chiefs.

He urged the media to remain unbiased and discerning in their reporting, instead of becoming unwitting tools in the hands of the opposition.

The statement added that the opposition was behind the promotion of a video clip depicting the displeasure of “a hired few” during President Muhammadu Buhari’s sympathy visit to Maiduguri on Wednesday in order to embarrass him.

“This imminent gathering is the latest in a series of demonstrations orchestrated by the opposition to embarrass the government of Mr Buhari. As part of this overall scheme, PDP, with its belligerent politics, has been marching from one embassy to the other in protest against the Buhari administration and the nation’s highest court of justice, the Supreme Court,” the statement added.

Reacting, PDP described the allegations by the Presidency as derisory, self-indicting and diversionary.

The party said it further showed the alleged confusion that pervaded the Buhari presidency in the face of “discontentment” by Nigerians.

In a statement, it said the presidency was trying to divert attention by blackmailing the media and opposition because it could no longer face Nigerians over its “manifest failure to deal with those behind acts of insurgency, terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and escalated violence under its watch.”

The party said, ”It is clear to all, including even the Presidency, that Nigerians across board, have been in protest against the Buhari-led APC administration and need nobody to mobilize them to publicly exercise their constitutionally guaranteed rights any day to register their discontentment against a failed administration that has continued to live on propaganda, excuses and denials.”

Daily Trust