The three Socio-Cultural Organisations in Benue State; the Mzough U Tiv (MUT), Ochetoha K’ Idoma and Omi Nyi’Igede have advised their sons and daughters to distance themselves from the planned #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protests scheduled to hold in August.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶
They also appealed to the organisers of the protests to shelve the idea, open room for dialogue and give the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration some more time, given that his administration has only clocked one year in office.
In a statement signed on behalf of the group by the President General MUT, Chief Iorbee Ihagh CP Rtd, and made available to Daily Independent in Makurdi on Monday, the group expressed fears that the protests may be hijacked by miscreants and turned violent.
While the sociocultural organisation acknowledged that there were issues that need to be addressed and tackled, they stressed that the protests should be engaged as a last resort.
Chief Iorbee Ihagh, who is also the Chairman, of tribal groups in the state said, “We wish to appeal to the organisers of the planned nationwide protests, tagged: #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria, to suspend the protests and embrace dialogue.
“Our group wishes to acknowledge that there are Issues on ground that need to be addressed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, however, we strongly believe that there is still room for dialogue.
“Protests are a last resort and we wish to appeal to the organisers of the planned nationwide protests, to have a rethink and cancel the proposed protest and find other means of engaging the Federal Government (FG).
“The experience of the #EndSARS protests still lives with us and it will be better to guard against a repeat, moreso that intelligence report has it that foreigners have been ‘imported’ into the country for the purpose. We don’t want a situation where some persons or groups will hijack the protest, which may turn violent.
“Our group understands that measure are being put in place across States of the country to cushion the effect of the hardships. For instance in Benue, last Thursday, the State Governor, Reverend Father, Dr Hyacinth Alia, directed the State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, to distribute maize and garri, it received from the FG, to the most vulnerable persons in the 276 Council Wards in the 23 Local Government Areas (LGAs), of the State.
“Furthermore, we learnt that Governor Alia also plans to distribute at the State level another batch of paliatives next week. These are all efforts by the federal and state governments, aimed at cushioning the effect of the hardship currently being experienced by Nigerians.”
The tribal group further stated that “We wish to remind Nigerians that during the past administration of the former President, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigerians also went through similar hardships. We recall that we were patient with the former President for eight years.
“It is in this wise that we appeal to Nigerians to exercise restraint and give the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration some more time to perfect its act, given that it just clocked one year in office.
“We also wish to state that President Tinubu has around him able lieutenants that are working round the clock to ensure that the hardship experienced by Nigerians are put behind us in no distant time from now.
“The three Socio-Cultural Organisations are also in touch with one of our illustrious sons, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), His Excellency, Senator George Akume, who has promised that based on discussions with President Tinubu, reforms are being put in place by the administration that will put an end to the hardship.
“Senator George Akume has told us that President Tinubu, means well for our nation and we have no reason to doubt the ability of our son, Senator Akume, who is a seasoned technocrat, a two time governor of our dear State, to work with his principal, to better the lot of Nigerians.
“It is this regard that we call on leaders of the groups to appeal to their members to exercise restraint for the sake of our dear country and shelve the planned protests.
“We also want to use this medium to call on our sons and daughters to distance themselves from the protests, which will do no one good at this point in time”, the group advised.