By METROWATCH
Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki Wednesday night mobilised 18 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) at the Government House to fire up #EndBadGovernance protest.
This is against the plea for calm by Oba Ewuare ll and more time for the federal government to deliver on its reform programme.
At the meeting, Obaseki urged them to ensure strict compliance with the #EndBadGovernance protest in the state. A statement by the All Progressives Congress (APC) has revealed.
The APC in a statement by Prince Kassim Afegbua, said the governor also charged CSOs to block major streets in Benin City, and converge on the King’s Square where he would address them.
metrowatchonline.com recalls that the had earlier been accused by the APC of mobilising sundry groups to wreak havoc on the state as part of his ‘threat to shut down Nigerian’.
As part of the action plan, Obaseki would use the opportunity of a meeting with the protesters at the agreed venue, tongue-lash the President Bola Tinubu government and plead with the protesters to calm down in a bid to cart away some political gains for the largely criticised PDP government in the state.
*Full text of the Statement…
PRESS STATEMENT.
EDO PROTEST: GOVERNOR OBASEKI’S PLOT EXPOSED.
The anticipated nation-wide protest has commenced with skeletal crowd across some locations in some of the states of the country.
In Edo state, the Governor, Godwin Obaseki, held an elaborate mobilisation meeting with eighteen (18) civil society groups in the state on Wednesday evening, with a view to prevailing on them to ensure strict compliance with the protest.
After the elaborate meeting at the Government House in Benin City, Governor Obaseki allegedly gave each member of the 18 groups one hundred thousand naira (100,000) and promised to give a further balance of N100,000 once they were through with execution of the protest.
He charged them to block major streets in Benin City, and converge on the King’s Square where he would address them.
He will use the opportunity to attack the APC-led Federal Government while pleading with the protesters to leave the streets.
It is all planned to gain cheap political point for the failed PDP-led state Government.
In addition to the address, he assured the heads of the groups that he was ready to pay N5,000k to each additional member mobilised for the purpose of the protest.
He instructed the members to ensure they compile their list of members who participated in the protest in order to repay them.
Even when the APC leadership in the state pleaded with Edo citizens to abide by the exhortation of the Oba of Benin that all should maintain calm and be law abiding, Governor Obaseki was plotting his own agenda to shut down the state economy.
Watch out, we will see Governor Obaseki going to address the protesters ostensibly to share in their aspirations and pretend he was trying to pacify them.
The Edo PDP campaign also plans to suspend their state-wide campaign in solidarity with the protesters.
We have maintained that people must maintain decorum and orderliness in their public engagements to avoid a break down of law and order.
Protests by their very nature have capacity to further compound our economic challenges and slow down Federal Government’s initiatives to tackling the problems.
It requires citizens participation, support and solidarity in the implementation of government policies.
The demands of the protesters are being addressed by the Federal Government, but we crave for the patience, understanding and tolerance of the people to ensure that the therapeutic effects of the policies are fully synchronised for the benefit of all.
We are for a prosperous Nigeria, and a stable polity in Edo state as we carry out our campaigns to rescue the state from the grip of economic predators and buccaneers who have dealt a severe blow on the collective patrimony of Edo state.
E-Signed:
PRINCE KASSIM AFEGBUA.
MEDIA CONSULTANT
EDO APC CAMPAIGN ORGANISATION.
