RIVERS State Governor Siminalayi Fubara has told protesters that his government would do everything within its powers to make life easier for the people of the state.
He said this while addressing the #EndBadGovernance protesters in Port Harcourt, the state capital, on Thursday, August 1.
Fubara said, “I am thanking you because you are here to demand for a better Nigeria. But like I said, I am one of you and I feel your pain. In our government, here, we are doing everything to make life easy for our people.
“But you see, this particular protest that we are doing now, we worry that we know a lot of people are planning to take advantage of this protest to destroy our state, but we will not allow it.
“I want to thank you for being peaceful. I already know your problem, and we will communicate it to the federal government. It is not easy but we know with time, it will be well. Starting from our own state, everything will be well. What we need is to support the government and support the policy.
While pledging to.support the people of the state to alleviate poverty and hunger, Fubara said he was not against peaceful protest but would not support any violence protest or anything that would not destroy the state.
The protesters interjected his address with “Mr Governor, there’s hunger” as he attempted to pacify them.
Fubara added that he had no fear that the protest would be hijacked but that the demonstration could be politically-driven.
The ICIR reported that that in addition to eight states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), protests have commenced in other states, including Cross River, Abia, Ogun, Imo, Kaduna, Pleatue, Zamfara Yobe, Kastina and Gombe.
Kehinde Ogunyale tells stories by using data to hold power into account. You can send him a mail at [email protected] (jameskennyogunyale@gmail) or Twitter: Prof_KennyJames