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From TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
Protesters of #EndBadGovernance were infuriated when the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, promised to give them money for “pure water” at the Government House in Port Harcourt.
The youths, who defied yesterday’s downpour, had earlier ignored his appeal on Wednesday, to shelve the planned protest when he met with selected leaders of various organisations in the state.
Governor Fubara addressed the protesters at the front of the Government House, Port Harcourt, and thanked them for being peaceful in their demonstration.
He assured them that he would deliver their demands to the presidency, promising that the state government would do its best to ensure the dividends of good governance were delivered to Rivers residents.
He said: “So, as I said before, I want to thank you for being peaceful. I already know your problems, we will communicate them to the Federal Government.
“But, you see, this particular protest that you are doing now, our only worry is that we know a lot of people are planning to take advantage of it to destroy our state. But, we will not allow that.
“As I said, it is not easy, but we know quite alright that very soon, everything will be well. Starting from our own state, everything will be well. What we just need is for you to support the government and its policies. Implementing policies at the beginning must be harsh, but at the end, everything will be fine.”
Governor Fubara said his administration would stick to the tenets of good governance, take decisive actions to address the growing economic hardship in the state, and ensure that life is easy for the people.
He explained: “But, as I said yesterday, I am one of you. I feel your pains, and in our government here, we are doing everything to make life easy for our people.
“We are going to make sure that we make life easy for you. Our youths, I agree with you that there is hunger, but because we preach good governance, we are committed to making hunger disappear very soon.”
He insisted that his administration would support the youths, and genuinely work for their well-being, but warned that it would not tolerate anybody that would use the protest to cause anarchy.
The governor stated: “I am not against your protest; but, we will not support any violent protest. We will not support anything that will destroy our state. We will not join forces with the enemy of progress to destabilise our state.
“I know, maybe, some elements have taken it upon themselves to want to make governance difficult in our state, penetrating through this means to create additional problems. We won’t allow it.
“The initial policies at the centre might not be friendly, but at the end of it, if we are patient and tolerant, there is no way the policies will not yield positive results and development for our state.
“Here in Rivers State, we will do everything to make life better. But, all we need from you is to support the Federal Government. We know there is hunger; but just be patient with the government.
“I will give you a small thing for you to drink pure water.”
At this point, the youths were enraged and they shouted, “No no; we don’t need your money. Keep your money. We want good governance in Nigeria, Tinubu must go.”
The governor could not pacify the protesters to explain what he meant, as they talked back at him in fury.
