By Pascal Ibe
Recently, the young generation, especially in third world countries, has taken it up to turn around the course of good leadership.
The youths in Africa and Asia countries where bad leadership and corruption continue to thrive, decided to take that bold step.
The instant changes which occured in Kenya as result of protest in the last two months, have pushed youths in Nigeria, Uganda and students in Asia’s Bangladesh to hit the streets.
Nigerians, frustrated with the country’s crippling 34.2% inflation, are calling for the demonstration on social media posts.
The cost-of-living crisis was exacerbated last year when President Bola Tinubu canceled a popular fuel subsidy and took steps that devalued the naira, hurting millions of Nigerians.
Despite warnings and pleading by government and security authorities, Nigeria youths vowed to begin protest on August 1.
However, in all this, misinformation is spreading. In order to note out the results of the student protest in Bangladesh, many Nigerian influencers on X, shared a post which was FALSE.
X users in Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda have shared a video of protesters and claimed, “BANGLADESH PRIME MINISTER RUNS AWAY FROM THE COUNTRY AFTER PROTESTERS PROTEST DAY AND NIGHT
Some of these x users who shared the claim last week are: Peter Obi Grassroots Mobilization, Omega XD, Captain Dominic, Buni, etc.
Bangladesh Protest Background
In early July, a university student protest began over Bangladesh’s job quota system that disproportionately benefits the descendants of Bangladesh’s 1971 liberation war fighters, which many students view as unfair and outdated.
Bangladesh’s quota system was the spark for these protests. Shortly after Bangladesh’s independence in 1971, the government established a system of quotas for government jobs that mandated 30 percent of positions go to liberation war fighters. Over the decades, the benefit was modified to include the children and grandchildren of freedom fighters, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities and others, totaling 56 percent of government jobs. In 2018, a similar student movement successfully compelled the government to scrap the quota system altogether. The issue was mostly settled until this June when Bangladesh’s high court ruled that ending the quota system was unconstitutional, effectively reinstating it.
Verification
The first finding by FactWatch indicated that this claim was also shared on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
A manual check showed that the video of protesters and the claim that Bangladesh Prime Minister ran away was first shared on TikTok last week by an inconsistent blog known as Nyanza Gossip Club.
Nyanza Gossip Club is on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
Reacting to this claim, an X user who shared the claim, noted that the Nyanza Gossip Club is not a reliable source of information.
Bangladesh PM Did Not Flee
There’s no credible report anywhere that the Prime Minister of Bangladesh ran away from the country as result of the violent protest.
However, on July 20, 2024, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina shelved her overseas travel plans, Agence France-Presse reported, amid escalating protests that have killed dozens and triggered a nationwide internet blackout.
The premier canceled her trips to Spain and Brazil “due to the prevailing situation,” AFP cited her press secretary, Nayeemul Islam Khan, as saying. The South Asian nation, which reimposed a curfew Saturday, declared two days of public holidays that will last through Monday, effectively closing government and private offices.
On Friday, July 25, 2024, in her visit to a metro station at Mirpur in Bangladesh, the prime minister Sheikh Hasina was seen wiping away tears in pictures taken.
“What kind of mentality leads them to destroy facilities that make people’s lives easier?” the leader was quoted as saying by the Business Standard during her visit to Mirpur.
“Dhaka city was clogged with traffic. The metro rail offered respite. I cannot accept the destruction of this transport facility made with modern technology,” she said of the station, where ticket vending machines and signalling control stations had been shattered.
The prime minister also toured a damaged section of Bangladesh Television (BTV), as she accused the protesters of trying to spoil “Bangladesh’s image abroad”.
How Far Is The Bangladesh Protest?
According to DailyStar, normalcy started to return across the country as the ongoing curfew was relaxed for several hours on Wednesday.
In Chattogram, a good number of vehicles were seen plying the city roads while people thronged the kitchen markets to buy essentials.
In Narayanganj, garment factories reopened yesterday after four days of closure, with hundreds of workers joining their work.
However, it has not been possible to communicate with foreign buyers as the internet connectivity is not smooth, said Mohammad Hatem, executive president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
