…Fintiri asks FG to listen to good governance agitators
The Nigerian Police Force, Plateau State Command, has arrested 27 suspects in Jos for defying the curfew imposed on Jos/Bukuru metropolis by Caleb Mutfwang, Plateau state governor, on Monday.
According to Alfred Alabo, the Police Public Relation Officer (PPRO) of the Command said, “the suspects were arrested for looting people’s properties and defying the curfew”.
BusinessDay reports that the curfew was imposed by Governor Mutfwang after hoodlums attempted to hijack the nationwide protest in Jos, leading to chaos and destruction of property.
Alabo confirmed the development to BusinessDay on telephone on Monday evening in Jos, the State Capital, stating that the suspects were youths from Jos North, who refused to comply with the curfew.
He said the Police Command had deployed operatives to various areas within Jos metropolis and Bukuru to prevent further breakdown of law and order.
Meanwhile, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State has called on the Federal Government to take the demands and agitations of the #EndBadGovernance protesters to heart by listening to the protesters.
Describing the ongoing #EndBadGovernance protest as genuine and a wake up call to Government at all levels, Governor Fintiri said the protest might be unpopular especially with the way and manner it was carried out in some States across the Country, but message was clear and the demands were genuine.
Read also: Kano probes violence as police arrest 632 protesters
The governor, in a statewide broadcast, said, “None of us can deny the fact that there is hunger and general poverty in the land; this has been made worse by the harsh economic realities, a deficient policy direction and the insensitivity of the National Government to engage the citizens civilly.
“As leaders of the people, we must at all times not only listen but act. The lesson we must derive from this protest is the constant reminder that it is not enough to tell the citizens, “We have heard” ‘we must be seen as doing the needful in providing solutions to citizens’ concerns,” Fintiri said.
Speaking on the solutions and what he had been doing to cushion the negative effects of inflation, Governor Fintiri noted that “the only solution to hunger is to take agriculture more seriously. In this direction, we have been very proactive by constituting a food security committee with the mandate to aggressively drive a youth-to-farm campaign.
“The committee is working round the clock to ensure every local government has a demonstration farm of a minimum of 300 hectares where our youths would be trained on modern agriculture practice with inputs freely provided
“To cushion the effect of transport hardship on the citizens, the Fresh Air governor, has promised to deploy additional 30 more luxury busses to ply the roads.
“We are also going to allocate a substantial number of the busses to our schools to fix the harsh transportation void for our student”, the governor stated.
