The penchant to interpret any protest or dissent by the people of south-east by Nigerian authorities and security operatives which always resulted in heavy bloodbath was the major reason the youth and activists of the zone shunned the #EndBadGovernance protest.
The chairman of the Coalition of Human Rights Groups in South East (COHSE) Dede Uzor A Uzor, said they were in sympathy with the protesters against bad governance and hunger in the country but because whatever happened in the South East was negatively interpreted by security outfits to kill young people they decided to remain indoors during the protest.
“In the past some of our members were labelled members of IPOB. So we decided to stay aloof. Our position is clear that there is hunger in the land and we abhor it. It is totally unacceptable.We are totally in support of the protest” said Uzor.
But Uzor said one of other major reason they did not participate in the protest was the indifference by Nigerians or deliberately ignoring the massively rigged presidential election in 2023 which brought Bola Tinubu in as the president and the subsequent travasity judgments.
He said: “many Nigerians failed to rise up against the monumental rigging and protest at that time.So coming back to protest after many might have collected bags of five kg bag of rice and beans is quite disheartening. Nigerians failed to do the right thing when they suppose to do it.” Uzor however said the major challenge facing committed Nigerians the 2027
Presidential election.
He said the youth, activists and patriotic Nigerians should now stand up and insist on electing a credible presidet who has the interest of the Nigerian citizens at heart
Dede Uzor who is the chairman of Campaign for Democracy (CD) in the South East and Executive Director Human Rights Liberty Access and Peace Defenders’ Foundation (HURIDE) said Nigeria’s problem started with Tinubu’s removal of subsidy without setting out plan on how to cushion the effect, noting that most past presidents removed subsidy without this far reaching negative impact on the citizens.
“When are they going to stop removing subsidy? Is subsidy spiritual thing or evil spirit.Subsidy is a function of corruption because they could not put our refineries in order. That is the crux of the matter” he said.
Continuing Uzor said: “I don’t know what they are removing. Nigeria has been unable to refine its own oll, an exporter of crude has been importing fuel for the more 20 years of democracy. That is the problem, our inability to to make our refineries work, because the price of everything shot up when the subsidy was removed. Fuel subsidy is the centre of corruption in Nigeria”.
The activist said the second cause of hunger in the land was insecurity, lamenting that bandits have talking over and terrorizing people all over the country.
In the same vein, he said, “kidnappers are everywhere in the north, they have taken over in the South East, South West. Tell how an ordinary farmer can go to farm. These are the problems and our leaders are not doing anything”.
He said the two critical things causing Nigeria problem now are bad economy and insecurity, lamenting that the country’s inflation has gone as high as 40 percent, while dollar as the time the interview took place Friday, August 3, 2024 one dollar exchanges for N1, 700 which he described as “alarming and shameful”
Uzor called for immediate resignation of the president since he has failed and lacked the will, capacity and vision to lead Nigeria.
“Nigeria is fast becoming a bananas Republic, a failed country. What is Tinubu’s economic vision for the next five years, no where. So, we are nowhere to be found in the Committee of Nations. We couldn’t guarantee power, no road, not even Agbado he promised. So we are in solidarity with the Nigerian people. Our position remain clear but we can’t find it safe to participate,” Uzor said.
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