The Mayor of Urhoboland and notable ex-agitators’ leader in the Niger Delta region, Eshanakpe Israel a.k.a Akpodoro has accused Northern political establishment and merchants of violence from other parts of Nigeria of being behind the planned August protest to attack the current administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He said the protest is majorly for ethnocentric and other self serving reasons saying same northern hegemony were silent under the former President Mohammadu Buhari’s government which he described as dumb, clueless, most corrupt, nepotistic, cruel and the worst administration in the history of Nigeria.
This was contained in a statement issued to journalists on Monday by the Mayor in Abuja, where he lampooned those he described as hired guns against the current administration.
While the Mayor ‘honestly’ acknowledged the unabated, albeit temporary hardship occasioned by the economic reform being put in place by the Tinubu government, he seeks more understanding and patience on the part of patriotic Nigerians not to allow themselves be misinformed into staging any protest.
Mayor Akpodoro noted that Tinubu’s administration in the history of Nigeria is the only one that muster the needed political willpower to redirect the national economy for the betterment of all.
He equally called on President Tinubu to fast track his economic policies to cushion the hardship on citizens.
He cited the crash on the naira against foreign currencies noting that the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, should be up and doing in his duties asking him to resign if he cannot deliver meaningful service to the Nigerian people, noting that his best is not good enough for Nigerians.
Also, Akopodoro seeks a marching order for the ministers, heads of agencies and parastatals saying the president cannot afford to keep non-performing hands in his administration, stressing that expectations of Nigerians are high therefore, measures should be put in place to ameliorate the living condition of the Nigerian people.
The raining season, the Mayor noted, has exposed the bad condition of federal roads in the country as he referenced Okene-Benin road that has become a death trap and harbinger of criminals who kidnap commuters along that stretch of road owing to its poor condition.
He challenged the president to journey through the road to feel the pains of the citizens, adding that, perhaps such trip would trigger the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, to expedite action on the rehabilitation of that stretch of road.
The statement said, the people of Nigeria should not be taken for granted by any ethnic group saying no one is more Nigerian than the other adding that the era of ‘born to rule’ in the politics of Nigeria is gone forever and NO tribe has the monopoly of violence as he warned northern youths to steer clear of the 2023 election losers who he noted are bent on pulling down the country in the name of crass politics.
Southern Nigerians, the Mayor reiterated stood solidly behind the “inept President Buhari” then and until the end of his tenure the South-South and South West geopolitical zones demonstrated patriotism and solidarity adding that, now that it is the turn of the South, a handful of failed politicians from the North chose to instigate violence in the country.
“Where is the unity in diversity we all crave? The enemies of Nigeria are jittery over the achievements of the current administration. To the fifth columnists, they must be in government at all cost, but unfortunately, this is a new Nigeria where we are all stakeholders,” the Mayor stated.
He recalled that, it took President Buhari over one year in office to form his cabinet while the nation was in total gloom.
“In his first tenure, Buhari spent more days in foreign medical facilities than he attended to governance in Nigeria. Where were the today’s so-called hungry ones, then?
“We are in the know of how they mopped food items in the market up north to create scarcity and blame it on government.
“It’s unfortunate that ethnic lords have taken unhealthy politics into a new height. For the information of the ignorant ones, it should be known that President Asiwaju is mending what Buhari destroyed.
“General Buhari led the government that deliberately ran aground our economy and bequeath dying socio-economic system on his precedessor.”
He called on Nigerian youths to be wary of those he called failed politicians finding faults in government particularly the ones who are standing trial for corruption and criminal self enrichment adding that those are the fifth columnists who hide under the guise of the current temporary economic hardship to incite the youths.
Akpodoro called on the security agencies to be on red alert and dismantle any insurrection against the Nigerian state irrespective of the zone(s) where trouble erupts.
