#EndBadGovernance Protest: Oyebanji talks tough in-state broadcast

Ekiti State governor, Biodun Oyebanji, has vowed to ensure the protection of lives and property of citizens in the wake of the planned nationwide protests over the current economic situation in the country.

Mr Oyebanji said Nigeria and its people could not afford “another massive destruction of our economic base”, as witnessed during the #EndSARS protest that led to the destruction of many private and government infrastructure.

Addressing the people of Ekiti State in a statewide broadcast on Wednesday morning, the Governor expressed concern that the planned protest has the potential to degenerate into violence and reverse his administration’s steady progress to shared prosperity.

In the address, he clarified that while his administration is not averse to the free expression of opinions and displeasures over socioeconomic issues, it strongly believes that it should be after due consideration of the overall security implication of such a protest.

Acknowledging the constitutional rights to freedom of expression and the right to air views freely, Mr Oyebanji argued that “a protest should be conducted under a peaceful atmosphere without recourse to any violent disturbances to other citizens who also enjoy the inalienable right to unhindered movement and life.”

The governor pointed out that he has the primary duty to ensure the security and well-being of the people at all times as the chief security officer of the state, noting that security agencies will be on high alert and will not allow anybody to destroy Ekiti’s good image as a peaceful and progressive state.

He appealed to residents not to fall into the agenda of individuals “who might just be interested in wreaking havoc while pretending to be fighting for the interest of the ordinary people.”

While contending that protest, violence and destruction of lives and property can be counterproductive, Mr Oyebanji said, “a lot of fifth columnists are trying desperately to weaponise the current economic crisis for their own destructive agenda.”

Recalling the havoc wreaked in Ekiti during the #EndSARS protest of 2020, he disclosed that some public buildings, infrastructure and assets are still in ruins nearly four years after they were savagely vandalised by protesters, with the government struggling to repair or replace them.

According to him, “nothing much will change by blocking roads and preventing distribution of goods and services. Instead, it will aggravate poverty and sorrow and will also worsen the situation as it did in 2020 when we had to slip into a deeper economic recession as a result of the combined effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and the #EndSARS wanton destruction of economic infrastructure across the country.

“Multimillion naira businesses were completely ruined, and the owners destroyed forever. Till today, the Ekiti State Emergency Management Agency’s store room and other government institutions remain in ruins because of the arson and looting that were visited on the state by retrogressive elements masquerading as protesters.

“Many of our silos, which serve as national strategic reservoirs for food and seedlings, were burnt, looted and vandalised. Government is still struggling with replacing or repairing the infrastructure, even in the face of scarce resources,” the governor said.

Mr Oyebanji appealed to parents, guardians, traditional rulers and religious leaders to appeal to the youths not to submit themselves to those he referred to as “evil merchants who want to use them to cause violence in our state as protests can easily be hijacked by hoodlums.”

He stressed, “that no matter how peaceful a protest might seem at the beginning, no one can predict its eventual dynamics and its ending.”

He also used the opportunity of the broadcast to assure the people of the state that efforts were on to ameliorate the current challenges relating to food price inflation and high cost of transportation while also ensuring the provision of welfare packages to workers, retirees and other citizens.

“It is for this reason that we have undertaken different palliative measures across the state to many of the eligible people based on different criteria for each batch.

“Indeed, we are not in any way deluded that food handouts will be the magic bullet to end the food-related inflation. More and abundant foodstuff production is the golden bullet to fight food poverty, and the government has put in place various measures to ramp up food production in the state through the Ministry Agriculture and Food Security and the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.

“It is in the realisation of this that we are investing at an unprecedented level in agriculture. We are supporting our farmers to increase their capacity in production through the clearing and ploughing land in thousands of hectares.

“The second phase of the land clearing is about to be concluded. We are not only clearing and ploughing for our farmers, we are also providing them free and subsidised seedlings, fertilisers and other farm implements,” he added.