Hike in petrol pump price: Protests rock Edo
BY TITUS AKHIGBE
Tension was high yesterday in Benin City following the various protests that rocked the city centre of the state due to the hike in the petrol pump price.
The protesters barricaded various strategic places leading to the adjoining streets within the capital city.
Noticeable among the protest groups are the Edo State Civil Society Organizations (EDOSCO) and the Faculty of Peace Organization (FPO).
The furious protesters who marched through the Sapele Road to the Ring Road, chanted various solidarity songs and warned the various store owners who opened their stores for businesses not to dare to open the next day (Tuesday) or face dire consequences from them.
Speaking during the protest, former Coordinator General, EDOSCO, Comrade Omobude Agho, said the citizens of the country have been taken for granted and have been constantly meant to suffer untold hardship in the midst of abundance.
He said the recent hike in the petrol pump price is anti-people, uncalled for and that Nigerians can no longer endure the present hardship.
Agho said the prices of things have gone up while the minimum wage has remained the same.
“Fuel has become N700 and minimum wage is N30,000. Bag of rice is over N50,000 and the minimum wage is still N30,000.
” You cannot move from this point, unless you are carrying a heavy budget and minimum wage remains the same, we think we can’t continue like this in this country and we are coming out to say Nigerians must take action”, Agho said.
The ex-coordinator general of EDOSCO hinted that from the look of things in the country, it is now very obvious that the current leadership cannot provide the needed leadership the country requires, therefore, they should give room for those who can, to do so.
“And if they know that they can’t provide leadership for the country, they should give room for those who can to provide leadership”, he said.
He maintained that the civil society organizations in the state will from this time henceforth take battle to those who are sabotaging the nation’s economy and causing untold hardship on the Nigerian citizens.
“All our economic saboteurs, in high and low places, we will fight them. Before, we say we will resist them but now, we will fight them. Anywhere you see black marketers, pursue them, and don’t pity them that they are poor. Anybody that is wicked, whether poor or rich, is wicked. Anywhere we catch a black marketers, we will seize the fuel, we will convert it and if you don’t have anything to do with the fuel, throw it away.
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“So, when those at the black market don’t have the fuel, the filling stations will be forced to sell at the fixed price. And the filling stations that are selling above the federal government agreed price, we will begin to picket them. We know them and we know where they are and we shall get them. Our brothers and sisters are the ones working at these filling stations and we shall get them.
“Even those who are contesting elections that have filling stations, they are still part of the black marketers. Even those currently in government now, still join in the black marketing business. We shall get them,” he said.
