A Call For Protests On September 21ST Against Imposition Of Bad Governance In Edo State
Amb. Tony Okonigene
Nigerians are going through unimaginable sufferings and hardships occasioned by the misrule and bad governance brought to bear on our nation by the All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government. Nobody who witnessed the PDP eras of 1999 to 2015, would have imagined that by 2024, people will find it difficult to buy and access basic food items like tomatoes, Garki, rice, fish, cooking oil, beverages and even pure water sachets.
The hardships have become so pronounced that the people have risen to call for nationwide protests for 10 days beginning from August 1, 2024 to end bad governance as represented by the APC. Government functionaries, traditional rulers, some civil societies and security chiefs have appealed to the organizers to shelve the idea of having processions, fearing that they can be hijacked by hoodlums. With the experiences of the past, protests by processions in the streets, are usually turned into avenues to loot, kill and destroy by hoodlums. The security agencies have declared their readiness to ensure that hoodlums do not have their way.
It is in view of this that I will urge Edo citizens to shelve the idea of engaging in any violent protest during this period. We have the opportunity of protesting against the imposition of bad governance brought upon us by the APC in a civilized manner that cannot be hijacked nor manipulated. This will be by coming out with our pvcs and voting against the APC on September 21st during the governorship elections. A total rejection of the APC in Edo State, will send a clear and loud message to the whole world that Nigerians are tired of bad governance and want good governance.
The people of Edo state should vote for competence, capacity and credibility. These are the attributes that you can find in Barr. Asue Ighodalo and Osarodion Ogie Esq., the candidates of the PDP. We should not make the mistake Nigerians made in 2015 at the national level by bringing in a party with a candidate that had no plan of moving the country forward but instead have taken the country from top to bottom. There is no doubt in any reasonable person’s mind that if the PDP under President Goodluck Jonathan had been allowed to continue, Nigeria would not have been in this situation now.
Let us get our pvcs ready as we prepare to join the protests on September 21, 2024 to stop the imposition of bad governance in Edo State as represented by the APC.
