Human rights activists and large number of students on Thursday stormed streets in Osogbo, Osun State, to commemorate the 32nd anniversary of the annulment of the June 12 presidential election won by Chief Moshood Abiola.
Dressed in T-shirt designed in green and white national colours, the protesters, who used the opportunity to demand good governance, were also joined by market women in the three-kilometre walk from Ayetoro Area to Olaiya Junction, Osogbo where they eventually dispersed.
During the protest, there was traffic gridlock along Ayetoro/Old Garage/Olaiya Junction road, as the protesters occupied one-half of the dual carriageway.
Accompanied by armed police operatives, the chairman, Osun Civil Societies Coalition, Mr. Waheed Lawal, who led the participants in the 2.5-kilometre walk, warned government across all tiers against compounding hardship Nigerians are currently going through by imposing more taxes.
Lawal further demanded, “Genuine Electoral Reforms that divest the executive of powers of appointment and control of Election Management Institutions, end to bad governance and end insecurity in Benue Borno,Plateau, Kaduna, Zamfara, and across the country.
“We are also demanding prosecution of all culprits of banditry and their sponsors, reversal of pump price to pre-May 2023, creation of jobs for our teeming unemployed youths and reduction in electricity tariff and all other essential commodities.
“We are also saying that political office holders should also earn minimum wage, FG should replace Students’ Loan with study grants and ensure proper funding of Public Schools from primary, secondary and tertiary. We are also asking for cut in financial recklessness regarding government spending to cater to the needs of critical sectors.”
In their separate remarks during the protest, Waheed Saka, the Convener of Dialogue 356 and Wole Oladapo of Nigerians for Good Governance, lamented the deplorable condition of Osun State University Teaching Hospital.
Saka, who also accused the All Progressives Congress and the People’s Democratic Party in the state of creating chaos that has led to the closure of council areas in Osun since February, declared that the late MKO Abiola would have regretted fighting for democracy with what Nigerians are currently experiencing under the reign of the current leaders of the country.
“Go to UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital, it has become an opposite of what a teaching hospital should be. The facilities are obsolete, the number of staff available to attend to the patients is grossly inadequate and those on the job are not well motivated.
“The two major parties in the state have successfully locked council secretariats in Osun since February. People are suffering, yet they are not going to shift ground. June 12 will continue to provide platform for us to demand good governance for Nigerians. We won’t be tired. But people are running out of patience,” Saka said.
Speaking in similar vein, Oladapo, who decried poor social welfare and non availability of basic infrastructural amenities for Nigerians after over 26 years of unbroken democratic rule, accused states and federal government of wrong priorities.
He further said, “As we speak, UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital is no longer on national grid. They rely on generators, which can only be put on for a few hours per day. No teachers in public schools, no good roads, quality of food available to Nigerians is poor and yet the Federal Government is still looking at adding to our hardship by imposing 5% tax on petrol. Will that not cause more hardship? Have we not been punished enough by Mr. Tinubu?
“What exactly is the sin of the Nigerians masses against Tinubu and these governors that they think starving us to death is the right punishment? We won’t stop talking. We won’t stop demanding our right to live well in our own country. The present leaders have failed Nigerians. MKO won’t be proud of them.”
Source: The Punch
