Protest: We won’t tolerate breakdown of ‘law and order’, says Ekiti gov

The Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Biodun Oyebanji, has vowed to ensure the protection of lives and property of citizens of the state in the wake of the planned nationwide protests in the country.

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

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.

Oyebanji, in the address, which was broadcast across all radio and television stations in the state, 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 implications of such a protest.

Acknowledging the constitutional rights to freedom of expression and the right to air views freely, Governor 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 wellbeing of the people at all times as the Chief Security Officer (CSO) 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 the residents of the state 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, the governor said, “A lot of fifth columnists are trying desperately to weaponize the current economic crisis for their own destructive agenda.”

Recalling the havoc wreaked in Ekiti during the #EndSARS protest of 2020, Governor Oyebanji disclosed that some public buildings, infrastructures, 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.

He said: “Nothing much will change by blocking roads and preventing the 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 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 storeroom 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. The government is still struggling with replacing or repairing these infrastructures, even in the face of scarce resources.”

The governor 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 or its ending.

The governor also used the opportunity of the broadcast to assure the people of the state that efforts are 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.

He added: “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 production of foodstuff is the golden bullet to fight food poverty, and government has put in place various measures to ramp up food production in the State through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed 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 of 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, but we are also providing them free and subsidised seedlings, fertilisers, and other farm implements.”