THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE IS THE VOICE OF GOD

I want to thank the Nigerian Democratic Liberty Forum (NDLF) for organizing this rally in New York to express solidarity with our oppressed and marginalized toiling people who have answered the clarion call to stand up for justice and oppose the removal of oil subsidy with its untold consequences on the socio-economic fabrics of the nation and in order not to worsen their long years of debilitating poverty, long years of suffering and long years of neglect in the midst of plenty.

For once, the government is putting too much pressure where it really hurts!!

What is currently unfolding in Nigeria is therefore, a battle against endemic corruption, a crusade against economic recession and a war against widespread unemployment. It is a struggle for survival. In the words of my brother, Lasisi Olagunju, the protestsare “merely outlets for people’s hitherto unvented spleen on a nation and its poisonous system”.

This is indeed; a period to be a Nigerian, a period to identify with our people and a period to demonstrate that real power belongs to the people. And like the late great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., would say; “let us (therefore) rise up..…with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge” to make Nigeria a better nation.

Something is really happening in Nigeria at the moment, something that reminds me of another great period in the political history of Nigeria- the great and historic protests that greeted the annulment of the 1993 presidential elections which was adjudged then by the international community as the freest, fairest and most peaceful elections ever conducted in the history of Nigeria. Between July and August 1993, Nigerians of all ages from all walks of life, male and female, young and old with the backing of the organized labor, the Nigerian Labor congress (NLC), the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, (PENGASSAN) etc and the coalition of civil society organizations under the auspices of the Campaign for Democracy (CD) embarked on massive protests and sit-at-home actions all over the country that crippled the nation’s economic activities which eventually forced the then military leadership of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida to step aside.

In the same way; something is happening at this moment in the history of our country Nigeria; the trumpet has summoned us again, we feel an urgent sense of duty. Our people have yet been called upon to do what they know how to do best in times like this-to express their disapproval of government’s actions by means of mass peaceful protests across the nation in opposition to the removal of the oil subsidy. And in response to this clarion call, our people are protesting in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Jos, Maiduguri, Abeokuta, Benin City, Enugu, Calabar, Kaduna, Minna, Ondo, Ado-Ekiti, Markurdi, Onitsha, Osogbo and everywhere including small towns, villages and hinterlands. Their demand is one and the same: They are opposed to the removal of oil subsidy under whatever guise and therefore, want the federal government to reverse its decision.

I don’t think this is a big request to make of our President and I don’t think the President would be inclined to deny the people’s request. According to Abraham Lincoln, the great US President, it is the duty of government to render prompt justice against itself in favor of the citizens as it is to administer the same between private individuals.

The President must listen and I believe he is listening. He must listen because there are far several security challenges in the country now that make his decision to remove the subsidy at this auspicious period ill timed. We are confronted everyday with the threats of Boko Haram in the North that are spreading fast to the south, kidnappings in the South-East and South-South, tribal and religious insurgencies in Bauchi in the North- East and Plateau State in the Middle Belt, possibility of resumed militant activity in the South-South and erratic power supply from North to South and from West to East all of which should have been strong enough headaches for a government that just got elected and about settling down to the arduous task and business of governance to contend with for starters.

To think that Nigerians have to begin their New Year with a “celebration” of yet another supper-added yoke is undoubtedly, one quinine too bitter for Nigerians to swallow, at least, at this moment when poverty and want have taken over many homes across the country particularly, when there are no provisions by the government to cushion the unpalatable effects of oil subsidy removal as we have elsewhere where subsidy had been removed.

While the government has maintained that the decision is in the interest of the nation because there is a cabal of the rich feeding fat on the subsidy on oil, the decision not to remove the subsidy is also in the interest of the nation because nobody wants to preside over a nation in crises due to abject squalor and poverty. We must listen to ourselves.

I have no doubt that the President is listening and I hope he does not want to rock the boat as the captain of the Ship. I hope the President will hearken to the voice of the people knowing full well that the voice of the people is the voice of God (Vox populi, vox dei).

Let unity in action hasten the dawn of freedom.

Thank you.