- Tuface, Seyi Law Others to Join
Nigeria will witness fresh but massive anti-government protest come March, this veteran entertainment personality and the self-styled ‘Area Fada’ Charles Oputa, a.k.a. Charly Boy yesterday said.
Ace comedian, Oluwaseyitan Lawrence, a.k.a Seyilaw have vowed to vow to continue the nationwide protest also. Civil society organisations (CSOs) under the umbrella of One Voice Nigeria yesterday encouraged Nigerians to be disquiet until government is made accountable to the masses.
They said the protests which held simultaneously in several major cities around the country was a step toward achieving a better Nigeria at all levels of government and would continue till the government listened to their grievances.
The procession which went on despite the withdrawal of and its cancellation by one of its chief conveners, Innocent Idibia popularly known as Tuface or Tubaba, featured heavy police and other security officials’ presence from the National Stadium, Surulere, to the National Theatre at Orile Iganmu.
Former president Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN) Charles Oputa also known as Charley Boy or Area Fada, who led comedian Seyi Law and other Nigerians on the procession, said an even bigger rally to be held next month in Abuja, would ‘shut down’ the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“Na so e go dey happen dey go until the government starts doing what we want. Next month there will be the biggest of all rallies because we want to shut down Abuja. We’ll shut down any arm of the government that is not working for the people. We’ll send a message to them because, haven’t we suffered enough? Our mumu don do,” Oputa said.
One of the coveners and executive director, Enough Is Enough (EIE), Yemi Adamolekun, said the CSOs would deliver a letter containing about seven demands to the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo in Abuja.
Adamolekun urged the federal government to intervene in the areas of anti-corruption, security, obedience to the rule of law, cost of governance, unemployment, poor power supply and non-supply of prepaid metres.
She said: “As for security, the government needs to show that all Nigerian lives matter. From southern Kaduna to Biafra, it doesn’t matter what you are agitating for, as the police has protected us today, every Nigerian has the right to their safety and security.
“We keep talking about rule of law, rule of law, yet we don’t obey court orders. El Zakzakay has been in jail, he’s been ordered to be released by the courts but he’s still there. That is not justice.”
She urged Nigerians to take their grievances about the poor state of the economy to the offices of their elected representatives and keep them accountable.
“Ask them, where are my schools, where are my roads?” Adamolekun said.
Lagos State Police Commissioner, Fatai Owoseni, who joined in the walk alongside his men and other security agencies, said he was satisfied that there was no breakdown of law and order.
“The police and the other security agencies have discharged their duties excellently well,” Owoseni said.
He denied the police’s involvement in Tuface’s decision to withdraw from the protest.
“Ask Tuface whether he was threatened, (by the police,)” Owoseni said.
The procession featured thousands of placard-carrying protesters who danced and sang from the Stadium to the National Theatre.
A protester, Joseph Njagwani said he joined the protest because he wanted good governance.
He said: “I’m a pensioner, I retired in March last year and since then I’ve not been paid my pension. Yet I have a family to feed. It’s almost as if I clshould be regretting my retirement because while I was in service, I had the opportunity to make money from the ministry of health through other inappropriate means but I refused. I could have connived with the management to steal, but I did not. But God is my strength. I know one day I will be paid.”
