LET YOUR PROTEST REMAIN PEACEFUL, IKPOBA HILL YOUTHS CHAIRMAN TELLS PROTESTERS

The Chairman of Ikpoba Hill Youths Association, Comrade Kingsley Osemwigie has admonished the protesters in Ikpoba Hill in Ikpoba Okha local government area of Edo State to shun violence as they participate in the nationwide protest which began yesterday, the 1st of November 2024.

Addressing a crowd of protesters at the first Upstairs bus stop, along the Benin Agbor road in Benin City, earlier today, Comrade Kingsley applauded the youths for engaging in peaceful protest, urging them to continue to be peaceful and to shun any violent tendencies that could breach the peace of the community. 

According to him, it is the fundamental right of the citizens to fight for their rights and to protest the present bad governance which has orchestrated the escalating high cost of living adding that it was the right of the citizens to demand quality life from the government. 

" Great Nigerian youths, I salute your resilience and perseverance in the face of bad leadership that has brought so much hardship on all of us and I want to salute your courage to demand good leadership and people centered governance from our government because it is your inalienable right to demand good and quality representation from our government.

" You will all agree with me that Ikpoba Hill is known for peace and not for violence. Our mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and our children are all suffering the effects of bad governance. Cost of living is getting out of the reach of the ordinary citizens, with fuel prices escalating out of proportion and the prices of food items becoming needlessly unaffordable and children school fees have become unbelievably unbearable and in one accord we say "no to bad governance" . We demand a better governance that guarantees good and quality life for all. We demand a government that prioritizes the well-being of its citizens, a government that creates enabling environment that promotes justice, equity and peace for all. As peaceful and law abiding citizens, we must eschew violence in our approach to our demands, we must exhibit a high sense of responsibility in making our demands for good governance. We must not take the laws into our hands. We must be our brothers keeper. We must not allow the peaceful protest to be highjacked by unscrupulous elements to cause mayhem and to use the opportunity to destroy properties of innocent people or to be breaking into houses and be looting shops.

"We are demanding from our government a responsible governance, a transparent governance that engenders the distribution of democratic dividends for all, we are demanding a governance that prioritizes the good of all irrespective of tribe religion or political affiliation. In exercising this right, we must be sure it is within the framework of the law. It should not be done in such a way as to infringe on the rights of the other people. It should not be exercise in such a way as to cause the loss of lives and properties, therefore, the watchword at all times should be peaceful proteste not violent protest.

Similarly at the ever busy Agbor Park, the Youths of the area on sighting the chairman alighting from the vehicle to address the protesters, they burst into shouts of praise for the chairman whom they referred to as an ambassador of Peace.

Speaking to the crowd of mostly women and youth, Comrade Kingsley Osemwigie reminded them of the peaceful protest they embarked on during the protest over the deplorable condition of the Benin- Agbor road which attracted the attention of the Edo State government and the federal government to do some palliative measures on the road adding that if it was a violent protest saying that the government would have used that excuse to exercise the instrumentality of government to clamp down on them, making the whole exercise futile.

"I want you all to remain peaceful in your approach to demand for good governance from our government. We should not allow our conduct to be a source of trouble for our fellow citizens because what we are agitating for is good governance and so, our agitation for good things should not be allowed to cause bad news like loss of goods and property, bodily harm or the death of our fellow citizens. In this regard therefore, we must embrace peace all through the period of this protest. 

"I want to appeal to you all for your understanding of this matter. Our mothers are here in this gathering who are tomatoes sellers. If we block the road for the whole day and they are unable to sell the tomatoes and as a result they get spoilt, they would have incurred great losses. There are those who are sick among our community who have needs of medication. If we block the road for the whole day, how can the sick among us access health care while the protest last? 

"Just yesterday here, a pregnant woman and her baby died in the Aduwawa axis of the Benin metropolis because she was in labour and couldn't get to the hospital because the roads were barricaded.

"We must make sure the protest is not violent because we don't want to lose any life in the whole of Ikpoba Hill. If it remains peaceful, the police will not come and shoot but if it is allowed to be highjacked, no police will fold his arms and allow criminals to loot or destroy the properties or the lives of other people and that is why we are coming out to re-orientate our youth to remain peaceful while the protest lasts because the lives of our youth are precious to us.

He therefore urged the protesters to remove the barricade once it is four o'clock so that the protest should not be counter- productive by punishing the people it was meant to help, so that people who need to buy food to eat and people who need medications or who need to get health care in hospitals could have access to these places.

Speaking with this reporter, Comrade Kingsley Osemwigie said that he did not want to join the #endbadgovernanceprotest because it was a nationwide affair which will prove difficult to control adding that without adequate planning and monitoring, a peaceful protest can snowball into a violent agitation saying he wouldn't want to be part of any protest that could turn violent.

"Yes, the hunger and high cost of living is affecting everybody including Ikpoba Hill Youths but why we did not join the organizers of this protest is because it is a nationwide protest which will prove difficult to manage and control because I wouldn't like a peaceful protest that could turn violent along the line. If you hear what is going on in Kano, Kaduna and in Lagos, you see they have already lost the life of a youth in Kaduna, firing of teargas in Abuja all because of protesters who are taking laws into their hands . It is dangerous to initiate a protest that cannot be adequately monitored. Look at a situation where protest is taking place simultaneously in all the communities in Benin City for instance, such simultaneous protest can definitely prove difficult to control and monitor and I sympathize with the families of those who lost their loved ones in this protest and I pray that their souls will continue to rest in peace" he concluded.