Hardship protest may be hijacked by people with ulterior motives – Ooni of Ife warns

The Ooni of Ife, His Majesty Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi on Thursday said the greatest concern facing the traditional institution is the possibility of unscrupulous persons hijacking the proposed protest to foment crisis.

Recall that President Tinubu first met with governors elected under the platform of the All Progressive Congress, APC, before having another closed-door meeting with the Council of Traditional Rulers.

Their discussions also centred on the prevailing challenges which the country has been facing since Tinubu assumed office and the need for Nigerians to understand where the government stands in trying to make amends for the woes.

Recall that since some unidentified Nigerians gave a notice to stage a protest on August 1 over economic hardship in the country, there has been a series of criticism over the move.

The Ooni said, “People that are planning to go out there to protest, it’s their civic right, but let them put a face to it and don’t let it be hijacked by people that have ulterior motives.

“That is our stand. We condemn such acts fully, we the traditional rulers are more engaged with the people, especially the youth, coming out to start looting, to start breaking down law and order. We are parents, we are traditional rulers, we are closer to them, we are going to go back home and continue to engage them”.

Speaking further, the Ooni said today it’s a new twist and a new spin from the political leadership of our dear country. For the very first time, the traditional rulers were properly engaged in terms of the plans of government and governance, their achievements so far, and where they were having challenges. This is long-awaited. We’ve been waiting for it, but today we’re very excited because we’re closer to our people and we can bring that feedback back home.

“Stewardship from the Federal Executive Council, directly to the traditional rulers has never happened in our nation before, never. This is the first time we’re all experiencing it. We have traditional rulers that have been on the throne for 40, or 50 years. Today is the very first time we will be addressed properly by the Federal Executive Council. So there is a proper bridge and closure of governance from the governed and the people that are in charge of government.

“So it’s a very beautiful take home for us because we don’t lock our palaces, we are more exposed to the people that we actually rule over. So it’s a different twist and spin from our dear President and I want to use this medium, on behalf of all traditional rulers, to appreciate him, no leader in Nigeria has ever done it. So for us, it’s all-encompassing”

The Ooni also cautioned those planning to embark on the protest saying it is very difficult to build, but easy to destroy. We are all stakeholders of this country, we should be stronger as a nation together, than stronger individually.

He continued, “The President has said it and he will continue to say it, any leader that you don’t like, wait and vote him out. He is open to dialogue. We know that challenges are so many in Nigeria, we know that, but are we going to destroy our nation by ourselves? Is that what we’re all after?

“We should talk to ourselves. It’s important for us to know that today, it’s a completely different spin. The government, ably led by the President, is willing to engage and dialogue and bring governance very close to the people”.

Corroborating the Ooni of Ife, the Dein of Agbor, HRM Benjamin Ikenchuku Gbenoba said the government at the centre was finally coming to terms with the reality of governance in the country.

Asked what his take-home from the meeting at the presidency, he responded, “The take-home message for me, hearing from Mr. President directly, I can see the passion.
But at the same time, I think the government is finally understanding we are at the precipice. Our youths are our future and I think today we’ve demonstrated that the government, with the officials, we do have the hearts of the nation in our minds, we will listen to our youths because they lead the future.

“The power, the strength of Nigeria is certainly with the young people. We feel your pain, I’m a young person myself. It’s been 24 years I’ve been back and it’s been 24 years that I’ve started seeing the nation going in a very unpalatable direction, but by God’s grace, I think if you give us the chance, this protest, I know that it’s catching very high in your neck, but if you give us the chance, let us not destroy our own country.

“I’ll ask you to think of Libya. Libya was a beautiful country, what has happened to Libya, we don’t want it to happen here. Let’s go home, let’s continue to strive the best that we can and continue to work with the government to see if we can proffer some solutions. I think that that would be best rather than to destroy property or injure ourselves”.