Commercial activities were temporarily grounded in Benin City, the Edo State capital on Monday following a protest by the Edo Civil Society Organisations (EDOCSO), calling on President Bola Tinubu to address the problem of hunger in Nigeria or resign.
The group, which staged a protest march from the Ring Road down to the Akpakpava Road and other busy roads in the city centre, brandished placards with various inscriptions like “Nigerians are starving to death”, “Tinubu, end hunger and suffering in Nigeria”, “FG, end the hunger in Nigeria now”, and “Tinubu, let Nigerians breath” among others.
Recall that the group had earlier given President Tinubu and the Vice President Kashim Shettima 14-day ultimatum to quit power or fix the Nigerian economy.
The group made the call in a communique signed by its interim chairman, Leftist Austine Enabulele, a copy of which was made available to journalists in Benin City during the protest.
Addressing journalists at the venue of the protest, Interim TEC Chairman, Leftist Austine Enabulele, said the 14-day ultimatum given to President Tinubu to fix the Nigerian economy has since elapsed and nothing has been done to address the issue of hunger in the country.
“If you remember on the 10 of February, we did hold a press briefing and gave the federal government two weeks to fix the problems of Nigeria, to fix the suffering and hunger in Nigeria.
“That two weeks have long expired and nothing has been done. So, we have come out today to tell President Bola Tinubu to fix the hunger and suffering in Nigeria, that enough is enough.
“We cannot take the pains anymore. Enough of the hunger, enough of the hardship, enough of bad governance in Nigeria.
“If he can’t fix the problems of Nigeria, he should resign quickly with his vice president Shettima and let us conduct a fresh election because Nigerians are dying everyday, children are now becoming orphans because their fathers are dying of the hardship in Nigeria.
“We are saying enough is enough. If he can’t fix the problems of Nigeria, he should resign and go,” Enabulele said.
Leftist Enabulele also decried the dollarisation of the Nigerian economy, saying that Nigerians should be used to their currency, which is Naira.
“He should give value to our Naira because Nigerians do not use Dollars.
“We cannot be living our lives in Dollars. You want to buy something in the market, they will tell you that Dollars have increased, you want to buy common pumpkin leaves, they will say Dollars have increased.
“We are using Naira and they must give value to our Naira. If he can’t fix the problems, he should resign,” Enabulele insisted.
Also speaking, A Pastor of Omega Fire Ministry (OFM), Benin City, and governorship candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) for the September 21 governorship election in Edo State, Pastor Azemhe Azena, who joined in the protest against economic hardship in the country, said the situation was getting out of hand and that the government at all levels needed to do something to checkmate it.
Pastor Azena said the clergymen were the ones feeling the heat because of the demands placed on them by their church members. He said, sometimes, they have to take up their bills and that it was really affecting them.
“Hunger is biting harder in our country. People are suffering. This is more than suffering.
“We are here to draw the attention of the government to the state of the economy in the entire country. That they should do something fast because an hungry man is an angry man.
“To prevent anger, crime, violence in the society, you have to attend to hunger. The prices of things are going up in Nigeria per hour.
“So, we should control, regulate the price of goods so that the poor man can breath and afford it.
“So, we are here to say, from the local government to the federal level, look into the price and do something about it.
“I am a Pastor, I can feel it in the faces of my congregation, the load is becoming too much on the clergy and religious men because they need to pay people,” the cleric stated.
