The level of anxiety, appeals, remonstrations, and high-level consultations by the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Administration concerning the proposed August 1 protest, and even implied and bare-faced threats by some security organs, are in themselves a study in the dynamics of democracy in Nigeria, as imperfect as it may be. But the planned protest is ill-timed. If the goal is to protest against current economic hardship, which admittedly is biting for a large segment of our population, it ought to have been done months ago when prices began to rise at unprecedented rates, month-on-month, and when ameliorative responses were slow in coming. But so much has since changed, and we are just at the cusp of a turnaround in the economy. I speak as an economist. I hold brief for no one. The Nigerian economy is simply my constituency.