3 months ago
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The Peoples Democratic Party and the ruling All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State on Tuesday bickered over the situation of hunger in the state and why Ekiti residents shunned the nationwide organized by some groups.
Ekiti State Governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji, had in a statewide broadcast on July 31, appealed to Ekiti residents to embrace peace by shunning the hunger protest which he said had obvious potential to degenerate into violence and reverse the state’s steady progress to shared prosperity.
However, the State Chairman of the PDP, Chief Alaba Agboola, lamented the effect of alleged bad governance on the people of the state.
He adduced the reason for the Ekiti people’s actions, saying, “Ekiti people are too hungry to participate in the ongoing nationwide ‘End bad governance’ protest.”
Agboola in an interview with PUNCH Online on Tuesday said, “Before you can go out to protest, you and your family must have something at home that you will eat. Ekiti people are hungry, angry and helpless.
“The fact that they did not go out to protest did not mean they were in agreement with what is going on in the country or with what the state government was doing.
“When somebody is accusing you and you are not talking, it does not mean you are in agreement with what the person is saying, it means you are just watching, you are helpless. The people of Ekiti State are in a helpless situation,” Agboola said.
The PDP state chairman, who said sitting at home was also a form of protest, said, “I disagree with the people that say because we are not protesting in Ekiti, it is a sign of endorsing the activities of the state government.
“No. they are not in agreement, but they just decided that they should just sit down and see whether the APC government will listen to the cries of our people, to see whether APC has solution to the problems confronting us as a nation and as a state.”
But the APC State Publicity Secretary, Segun Dipe, dismissed the PDP assertion, saying it was against logic.
The APC spokesperson in an interview with PUNCH Online on Tuesday said “It is when people are hungry that they will want to fight. We may not say Ekiti people are filled to the brim, but they are not hungry, they are not starving.”
Dipe said that Ekiti people did not join the protest in view of their trust in Oyebanji and the good governance in the state, saying, “The protesters are saying ‘end hunger or end bad governance’ whatever and Ekiti people have decided not to join. That means the Ekiti people have no reason to protest.
“They have the trust in their governor. You don’t fight somebody that you like. The people love the governor, so why should they fight? Will they fight a governor that they have admitted is doing well – a considerate governor, a people-centred governor, somebody who is doing what they want?
“Ekiti people are getting the best of governance. If there is trust, they know that their hope is alive. The people are seeing the governor’s good works. We can’t say they are filled more than any other person, but they are not hungry and they are not starved.”
English (US) ·