President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been commended for making the national broadcast to Nigerians to halt the protest, which has been described as timely and emotional for the nation’s survival.
The Campaign for Ethics and Good Governance in Benin City said the President was fatherly when he promised to send more palliatives nationwide and advised that the fertilisers for Edo state should not be distributed through the Governor of Edo state, Godwin Obaseki.
A spokesman for the group, Comrade Lucky Efe, said previous palliatives sent to the state through the governor were not evenly distributed, and the ruling party hijacked them.
“The Edo people are not happy with the way the governor of the state and his party have handled palliatives such as rice.”
“The rice that came to Edo state was given to PDP leaders, who locked it up and re-bagged it for politicians’ sale. The protests in the past few days have exposed the criminal acts of the PDP under the governors’ leadership, as most of the rice hideouts were attacked by hungry citizens.”
“While many people blamed the Federal Government for the hunger in the land, the protests have further revealed that governors like Obaseki were the real enemies of the people for locking up the rice meant for the people in their various hidden locations.”
“The governor had embarked on propaganda that the rice from the federal government was being channelled through Christian leaders, whereas it was given to political leaders of their party for re-bagging and onward sale to the public.”
“We want to use this opportunity to appeal to President Tinubu to send the fertilisers through other channels because the people have lost confidence in the state government and the PDP.”
“We want to also thank the President for speaking to the conscience of the Nigerian youth. The previous administration cared less about the people’s plight even when the nation was burning.”
“We join the President in appealing to the youths to sheath their swords and give the federal government time to implement the economic policies laid out, which we believe will soon begin to yield positive results.”
The group also condemned the tribalisation of protests in Nigeria, noting that during the End Sars protests of 2020, some Nigerians gave it ethnic colouration.
