Independence Day: Group demands return of fuel subsidy

Coalition of Civil Society Organisations in Edo State, on Tuesday, demanded the restoration of fuel subsidies, improvement of security, and revert to a single legislature, among others by the Bola Tinubu administration.

The group, which includes the African Network for Environment and Economic Justice, Talakawa Republic, Take it Back Movement and Faculty of Peace Organisation during a rally to the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Edo State Council, Benin, said the removal of fuel subsidy, insecurity and floating of the naira has made life very difficult for Nigerians.

The coordinator of the Take it Back Movement, Edo State, Lawal Haifz, said they were demanding that the government should restore fuel subsidy and improve security so that farmers could go to the farm.

Haifz also bemoaned the free fall of the naira and urged the government to restore the hope of the common man.

He said, “We are here to protest the current situation in Nigeria. People are suffering. We demand the restoration of the fuel subsidy. Insecurity has made it impossible for our people to go to farm and that is why you can no longer buy foodstuffs.

“We don’t need the Senate and House of Representatives at the same time. The money spent on the two can go a long way in taking care of the needs of Nigerians. The so-called minimum wage cannot even buy a bag of rice. There is extreme hunger,” he stated

Also speaking, the convener of the Faculty of Peace Organisation, Comrade Kelly Osunbor, said the Nigerian political class were just being wicked.

“They say there is no money, where did the money distributed to voters during the Edo State Governorship election on the 21st of September come from? These people are just being wicked. My father hoped for a better Nigeria, he is dead now. He did not see a better Nigeria. Today we are hoping for a better Nigeria.

“Government does not provide anything. We sink our borehole and the fuel God has given to us freely is what they are using to punish us. If a parasite goes into its host, it will never stop eating the host until it finishes it. The Nigerian political class is like a parasite. They are calling for revolution, and they must get revolution.

“We have tried BVAS, it did not work, we have tried IReV, it did not work. We have tried Attahiru Jega, but that one did not work. So, the only thing they will hear is a revolution,” he said.

The coalition moved around the King’s Square (Ring Road) to the NUJ Center in GRA, Benin chanting solidarity songs while bearing placards with different inscriptions like: ‘Restore fuel subsidy’, ‘We are hungry”, “End insecurity ‘ among others.