…Adeleke commends peaceful Osun protests

By Ismail Azeez, Osogbo

Some commercial banks in Osun State have scaled down their operations due to the ongoing protests against bad governance and economic hardship as their demonstration hit day 5.

It was observed that certain banks only attended to customers with serious issues to resolve in the banking hall, as others have remained shut down since August 1st.

The protesters in their numbers, in continuation to press their demands from the federal and state governments, started marching from Nelson Mandela Freedom Park to Old Garage, Ayetoro, Osogbo Township Stadium and later terminated at the Olaiya flyover.

Earlier, Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke expressed happiness and solidarity over the peaceful nature of ongoing protests as he assured the protesting groups of his commitment to continuous delivery of good governance.

In a statement signed by Governor’s Spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, Governor said he was elated at the rejection of efforts by dark forces to hijack the protest for their selfish goals.

According to him, “We heard of consistent upholding of peaceful demonstrations by the organisers even in the face of pressure from various quarters. I was briefed of the refusal of organisers to succumb to evil political forces hell bent on destroying the peace of the state. I commend them for maintaining peace and peacefully airing their views on the state of the nation.

“I charge them to sustain their upholding of peace. All their submissions will be duly received. We will attend to areas that affect us as a state government and we will take the rest to Mr President in Abuja. As Mr President is working hard at the national level, we are complimenting him as the government of the people, by the people and for the people.

“We are redoubling our efforts to address the yearning and aspirations of our people. Within the government, we feel the pain being experienced by our people and we are working tirelessly to bring succour and good living.

“I again had a meeting with my team handling the food security implementation committee. We are working hard to expand food supply, enhance farmers’ support, moderate food prices, boost food access and introduce tractorisation.

“I commend security agencies and all stakeholders for working hard to achieve sustained peace in Osun. I thank  commanders across the security services for burning the candle light so that Osun can remain ever peaceful and prosperous,” Mr Governor told team.members after the Sunday meeting.

Speaking during the protest on Monday, the coordinator of the Coalition for Concern Nigeria Citizens, Comrade Ajala Adetunji, clarified that the #EndBadGovernance protest is not to witch hunt any government but to fight bad policies.

He called on the both state and federal governments to come out with sincere programmes to tackle the hardships in the country.

According to him, “It is visible to the blind and audible to the deaf that President Bola Tinubu did not address the main issue of our demands. It is disheartening and very embarrassing that the President will address the whole nation, he did not talk about the hike in price, the electricity hike, and many other government policies that affect the masses.

“We are not fighting anybody, we are fighting bad policies and we are saying there is hunger in land and President Tinubu should address this issue in clear terms with a plan and actions.

“To stop the #EndBadGovernance protest the state and federal governments must show commitment to meet our demands,” he added.