Protest and commendation on Thursday trailed the celebration of Nigeria’s 60th Independence anniversary in Benin City.
BusinessDay reports that while the Edo State chapter of #RevolutionNow staged a peaceful protest in Benin City, a group under the umbrella of Truth and Justice Vanguard, however, congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari on the country’s 60th anniversary.
Members of the #RevolutionNow, who marched through major roads in Benin City carried placards of various inscriptions such as, “End poverty in Nigeria, Nigerians are not free, trillions of naira spent every year yet no water for the poor.
Other inscriptions are, “RevolutionNow, change the system not palliatives, Nigerians fight for your rights, reverse electricity hike now, reverse all privatisation, Buhari obey Nigerians not IMF among others”.
The spokesperson of the group, Kola Edokpayi called on President Muhammadu Buhari to fix the country or resign honourably.
Edokpayi also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to provide Nigerians with the dividend of democracy.
While noting that there was nothing to celebrate about Nigeria’s independence, he added that Nigeria as a country is rather an embarrassment before the comity of nations.
“The pitiable state of the nation has led to mass exodus of Nigerian youths travelling to Libya, Italy, and other countries. These youths prefer to die in these countries because our leaders have failed them.
“Our leaders are busy celebrating the failed independence of Nigeria. There is nothing to celebrate about. Independence is meaningless unless it is meant for the total liberation of our people.
“60 years after gaining independence from colonial master, Nigeria has become the poverty capital of the world. if they cared about us, they won’t increase taxes, price of petroleum and electricity charges at a time COVID-19 has made us poorer.
“We are using this medium to call on President Muhammadu Buhari to fix Nigeria, to give us the
dividend of democracy. If he lacks the intellectual capacity, the mental capacity, the spiritual ability to lead Nigeria to its promise land, he should honourably resign”, he said.
Meanwhile, members of Truth and Justice Vanguard at a press conference in Benin City, commended the President for ensuring the processes and procedures that guaranteed the people’s vote in the just concluded Edo State governorship election as well as the need to respect the rule of law.
The coordinator of the group, Hillary Ayokhai said as Nigerians they are proud of the nation’s democracy which was further demonstrated during the last September 19th election in Edo state, as one of the most transparent, free, fair and credible election since the inception of democracy in Nigeria.
“In the President’s address to mark Nigeria’s 60th anniversary, He made emphasis on the need to respect the rule of law.
“The president said this call is made more urgent if we realise that even after transparent, free, fair and credible election, desperation leads to compromising the Judiciary to upturn legitimate decisions of the people”, he added.
Idris Umar Momoh & Churchill Okoro, Benin
