From Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
A group, Edo Civil Society Organisations (EDOCSO), yesterday, gave President Bola Tinubu and his Vice, Kashim Shettima, 14 days to resign if they can’t address the hardship currently being faced by Nigerians.
The group made the call in a communique signed by its Interim TEC Chairman, Leftist Austine Enabulele, and made available to newsmen in Benin city.
The group said that having observed and analysed carefully the immediate and remote causes of the unbearable hunger and economic hardship in the country, they discovered and concluded that it was as a “result of the wickedness and ineptitude of the government of the day that doesn’t care about the welfare of Nigerian citizens, and as such, a departure from the social contract entered by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the 29th of May, 2023 when he took the oath of office.”
They added that since the first day of taking over the leadership of the country, Nigerians had known no peace in terms of their daily living.
The group said that beginning from the date of increase in fuel price till date, continuous rising of dollar has affected everything in the country, including farm produce that come from the local farms to the markets, lamenting that the saying that whatever goes up must surely come down has become an irony, considering the dollar-naira exchange rate and suffering in the country.
They said that they have watched with dismay and pain as Nigerians groan in agony, which has led to the continuous rise in suicide being committed by Nigerians everyday because they can no longer bear the hunger and sufferings, adding: “Women are turning to widows and men widowers, children becoming fatherless or motherless all because their parents can no longer bear the pains of watching their children suffer as a result of not being able to provide a meal for their children.”
The group maintained that the Federal Government and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has failed in their responsibilities and agreement reached with Nigerians, in Section 14, Subsection 2B and Section 16, sub-section1B of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigerian.
They, therefore, made the following demands, that as a matter of urgency, the government should put in place all machineries to ensure proper market price regulations to end the current economic hardship in the country, and all economic processes to give value to the currency put in place.
The group also demanded that a proper fair and citizens-friendly policies be put in place to ensure economic stability in the country, all security measures to end insecurity activated immediately just as they said that if the legislators are not ready to make laws and live up to their responsibilities, as well as hold the executive to perform in line with the constitution, they should shut down the House and go home, before they would begin to call back all of them.
The group said that if the president fails to meet the demands, they would mobilize the members of the civil society on a ‘Tinubu/Shettima must go protest.’
“We want to state clearly that failure for the Federal Government to swing into emergency action to end this hunger and economic suffering in Nigeria within the next two weeks, the president and his vice should resign, so we can elect a better leader, or we at Edo Civil Society Organisations (EDOCSO) will have no option than to mobilize other citizens all over the country on a Tinubu/Shettima must go protest,” they vowed.
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