From Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
The President General, Global Peace Movement International, Dr. Mike Uyi, yesterday, absolved the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio over alleged comment of go on and protest while we sit at home and eat.
He exonerated the Senate President while addressing journalists in Benin.
Dr. Uyi said that he was at the event where the said comment was made and it was made by the chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and that Senator Akpabio only re-emphasized what the chairman said.
“I was in Niger Delta two weeks ago during the time of the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest and then, the NDDC chairman was addressing the people in the Niger Delta.
“The people, you know very well were given amnesty before. Many of them have been trained when late Musa Yar’Adua was alive. It created rooms for the rehabilitation of people in those areas not to be violent towards what is happening in their region which is the bed rock of the Nigeria economy.
“And he was addressing them, saying, it has been agreed that the government will be paying each and everyone of you here which is the youth, N50,000 monthly as an allowance and the people were happy.
“The NDDC chairman also said and you people should own the government. I am quoting him now, because the government has tried for you people and there should be no need for any of you to be part of the protest.
“So, you should own the government to your chest. The fewer you are in this struggle, the merrier it is. Now let those who want to protest, let them be protesting and while they are protesting, we will be eating, end of quote. I have played the video 15 times and that was what the chairman of NDDC said which Akpabio was only repeating”, Uyi said.
He said while he is supporting the protest against #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria, he is seriously against the act of some persons trying to malign the Senate President.
The President General, Global Peace Movement International, however, called on Nigerians to rise up above petty polity and stop twisting the fact.