Group faults alarm

AHEAD of today’s protests and strike over the fuel subsidy removal, Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, has urged the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) to check the multifarious crises facing the country.

Aregbesola also cautioned ambitious power seekers who might attempt to hide under the fuel subsidy protest to subvert democratic rule to have a rethink and note that the political class will not allow any military rule a foothold in Nigeria anymore.

Meanwhile, the Oyo State government said that it had uncovered plans by some

discredited politicians in the state to mix with protesters who are embarking on a legitimate peaceful anti-fuel subsidy removal protest today to destroy government property and those of its supporters.

But, the Joint Action Front (JAF), Oyo state, a coalition of civil rights groups, professional and trade unions spearheading today’s mass protest dismissed the government alarm and described it as false.

JAF’s spokesman, Moshood Erubami expressed shock at the alarm raised by the Ajimobi government and said it was unexpected and unwarranted.

Erubami stated that since the protest was a nationwide action against a federal government policy, there was no need for panic by the state government.

In a speech he delivered at the close of a three-day seminar on Budget and Budgetary Control organised by  the Osun State House of Assembly in Ejigbo, Osun State over the weekend, Aregbesola also decried the lack of transparency in the handling and management of Nigeria’s petroleum resources.

In  a statement issued by the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Akin Olajide, he said the plan, which had already been reported to security agencies in the state, was hijack the protests over the subsidy removal to destroy property, as well as create chaos and disorder in the state.

The government said while it was not averse to protesters exercising their legitimate right of protest and it would protect the rights of citizens to peace and order by stopping politicians bent to create chaos in the state.

The government also advised citizens of the state to ensure that their peaceful protects over the oil subsidy removal were not hijacked by political brigands who were yet to come to terms after their setback in the last general elections and now bent to create disorder in the state.

-Guardian

Posted by admin on Jan 8 2012. Filed under Headlines, Osun, Oyo, State News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry