Otti, Soludo, Diri Urge Protester To Adhere To President Tinubu’s Call For Dialogue

Three governors—Alex Otti(Abia), Charles Soludo(Anambra) and Duoye Diri(Bayelsa) yesterday took the same path with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu by calling on youths to dialogue with the government over their demands

They said talks between the government were better tools for ending disagreements instead of taking recourse to protests.

The governors spoke at different events in their state capitals.

In Aba, the commercial nerve centre of Abia State, Otti told participants of the Aba South Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, that he was grateful to youths heeding his appeal to them not to participate in the protest.

He said, “I want to use this opportunity to thank you and Abia people who listened to my plea not to come out, pour onto the roads and disrupt services and activities, and probably visit mayhem on the people.

“The reason is not because things are not difficult, far from it. I recognise how difficult things are today, but at the same time, there is a saying that two wrongs cannot make a right.

“I also do know that a lot of our people live by the day, some are traders, some are Keke riders, some are barbers, and some are taxi drivers. These people put food on the table on the basis of what they earn that particular day.

“My plea was that we can always sit down to discuss. And, I want to thank Abia people for heeding that call. It does not mean that we don’t have right to protest but there are different ways of protesting.

“I think that the authorities had even listened to you and heard what you did not say.’’

Otti’s counterpart in Bayelsa State, Diri applauded residents of the state for maintaining the peace.

‘’The protest in Bayelsa is dead,’’ he told reporters in Yenagoa. He explained that the state remained largely peaceful because of the resolve of Bayelsans, particularly the youth, to key into the peaceful disposition of his administration.

The governor said: “Before August 1, l engaged with the youth, religious bodies, and other stakeholders and maintained that dialogue was the best approach because we envisaged that the protest could be hijacked by persons that do not mean well for our state.

From day one of the #EndBadGovernance protest till today, there has been no real protest in the state.

‘’I thank our elders, parents, religious leaders and our productive youths of Bayelsa for listening to the voice of reason and for sustaining the peace that we all are enjoying. Today, l am happy to announce that Bayelsans are united more than ever before.”

In Awka, the Anambra State capital, Governor Soludo launched an agricultural programme and called on residents to embrace it instead of embarking on a protest.

He said that the initiative known as “Farm-To-Feed Campaign” is designed to banish hunger in the state

The governor said: “We are here as part of our response to the issues surrounding hunger.

“While others in some places are protesting, Anambra State is not protesting. I want to thank our youths and everyone who are going about their businesses. We are here to take positive steps to move the state and country forward.

“Our people are not participating in the protest, not because they don’t feel the pain, but because they want to be part of the solution, The youth want to embrace their destinies and I want to commend you for that.

“This is citizens’ action against hunger in partnership with government. We want to turn our challenges into opportunities. If everyone starts producing, the pressure on food prices will reduce. Turn every vacant piece of land to farm, rent a space if you can, but plant something.

Soludo revealed that his administration had already distributed over one million palm and coconut seedlings, with a target of 10 million seedlings before the end of his tenure.