AUGUST RALLY

We are not against peaceful processsion, but oppose violence

By Abiodun Oyebanji
Governor of Ekiti State

1. I am compelled to address you today, in this Special State Broadcast, because of the threats of an impending nationwide protest by clandestine organizations with obvious potential to degenerate into violence and reverse our steady progress to shared prosperity.
2. As your chief security officer, I have the primary duty to ensure your safety and well being at all times. This,we have been doing since our assumption of office.
3. Whereas, our Constitution grants all citizens the right to freedom of expression, including the right to air their views freely, It is therefore expected that a protest will be conducted under a peaceful atmosphere without recourse to any violent disturbances to other citizens who also enjoy their inalienable right to unhinderedmovement and life.
4. It is the least expected that before any protest of this magnitude would take place, the concerned persons would have sought to dialogue and engage with the appropriate authorities on their areas of concern. This is the hallmark of democratic practice globally. Protest should not be first and only channel of engagement.
5. As a Government, therefore, while we are not averse to free expression of opinions and displeasures over socioeconomic issues, we sincerely believe it should be after due consideration of the overall security implications of such a protest.
6. In Ekiti, our Government has always accorded you the people all the respect and dignity befitting of citizens and we have always engaged with you through different channels of communication that we have created including direct interaction with Ekiti people from time to time.
7. As a result, we are well acquainted with your daily difficulties in the face of this current economic challenges that affect everyone, including government institutions which is a global phenomenon.
8. While protest is a legitimate way of addressing the attention of the authorities to the challenges that citizens face, we must be honest to acknowledge that protest, violence and disruption in the economic life of our country at a time like this can be counter productive now that everything is being done to re-set the economy to productivity through different fiscal and monetarymeasures that are already showing early indication of success and we cannot afford a roll back of the present gains.
9. As a people, we cannot also afford another expensive destruction of our economic base as we did in 2020 during the #EndSARS protest that led to the destruction of many private and government infrastructures. Multimillion naira businesses were completely ruined and the owners destroyed forever. Till today, the Ekiti State Emergency Management Agency’s store room 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.
10. Many of our silos which serve as national strategic reservoirs for food and seedlings were burnt, looted and vandalized. Government is still struggling with replacing or repairing these infrastructures, even in the face of scarce resources.
11. It is for these that I want to sincerely appeal to our people not to fall into the agenda of those who might just be interested in wreaking havoc while pretending to be fighting for the interest of the ordinary people. A lot of fifth columnists are trying desperately to weaponize the current economic crisis for their own destructive agenda.
12. Ekiti Kete, you can all bear witness to our relentless effort to ameliorate the current challenges relating to food price inflation. We feel the pain of the high cost of food, transportation and indeed other basic needs of the average man.
13. As a result, we have tried to lessen this by continuously ensuring our workers are paid on time, even before the due date. We have also been paying wage award to all government workers and retirees in addition to other welfare packages for the citizens.
14. Even though, the spiral economic impact of these interventions is enormous on the economy of Ekiti State, the truth remains that majority of our people are self-employed. 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 anyway 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 governmenthas put in place various measures to ramp up food production in the State through the Ministry Agriculture and Food Security and the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
15. It is in the realization of this, that we are investing in an unprecedented level, in agriculture. We are supporting our farmers to increase their capacity in production through clearing and ploughing of land in thousands of hectares. The second phase of the land clearing is about being concluded. We are not only clearing and ploughing for our farmers, we are also providing them free and subsidized seedlings, fertilizers and other farm implements. Yesterday, we flagged off the Livestock, Productivity and Resilience Support (L-PRES) programme to ramp up livestock productivity in Ekiti State, this will boost livestock farming in the State.
16. And because we understand that infrastructure in terms of road access affect our food supply and distribution, we have just awarded, in conjunction with the World Bank, some rural road contracts worth 17 billion naira across the State, while the next phase will come on board soon. We expect to construct 1000km of roads across the State before the expiration of the programme. This will ensure the bountiful harvest that is expected in the next one year will have quick and easy access into the market. Our government is also working with stakeholders to eliminate the exploitative business of the middlemen in the agric distribution chain. This will ensure that the farmers are not ripped off and that price gouging are eliminated.
17. All these steps are the real and enduring solutions to the food inflation challenges that we are facing in our country. Nothing much will change by blocking roads and prevent distribution of goods and services, instead, it will aggravate poverty and sorrow. It will 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 COVID 19 pandemic and the #EndSARSwanton destruction of economic infrastructure across the country.
18. On our part, we want to assure our citizens that we are more than resolved to protect our State and to ensure no breakdown of laws and orders. The security agencies will be on high alert and will not allow anybody to bloodstain our immaculate name as a peaceful and progressive State.
19. I therefore want to appeal to parents and guardians, our traditional rulers and religious leaders to appeal to the youths not to submit themselves to the evil merchants who want to use them to cause violence in our state as protests can easily be hijacked by hoodlums. No matter how peaceful a protest might seem at the beginning, no one can predict its eventual dynamics and its ending.
20. In the meantime, I appeal to you all to go about your daily routine without any fear or hesitation. Nobody will be allowed to obstruct, intimidate, impede or harass anyone in the name of protests in our Land of Honour.
21. We must join hands together to ensure the peace of Ekiti is not truncated. May peace continue to flourish in our Land and may you all prosper.
22. Thank yon for your attention and God bless.