By Patrick Obia
Governor Bassey Otu of Cross River State, has again issued a fresh strict warning on the proposed nationwide protest, saying protesters that resolve to violence should “be prepared to be an ugly guest at Afokang Correctional Center without trial”.
He dished out the warning in a broadcast where he said enough should be enough of dragging the peace loving nature of the State into trials, as he recounted the 2020 #ENDSARS carnage.
Otu said his government is doing the best to fix the State back to its scenery and hospitable nature despite the economic quagmire plaquing the state and nation.
He opines that right from time immemorial, protest has not yielded desired results and often degenerates into arsons. This he said, any person or group of people who dares the resolve of his warning should be ready to rot in jail without trial.
The broadcast reads below:
I feel your pains, this too will pass away!
1. Dear Cross Riverians, it is expedient for me as your leader to share some thoughts with you in this obviously challenging moment in our nation and state, arising from volatile economic dynamics in the last couple of years till date.
2. Going down the memorable lane, history highlights horrendous phases of human existence even in the midst of most prosperous civilizations.
3. Recounting from the global credit crisis of 1772, through the Great Depression of 1929 to the current meltdown in Sri Lanka that started in 2019, the world cannot be said to be hundred percent free from economic difficulties and adversities. Before the Covid 19 economic stagflation, there have been financial deflations and inflations in the OPEC related economies (1973), Asian territories (1977) , Spain(1977), Norway (1987), Finland/Sweden(1991),Japan(1992). The global crisis of 2008 and many more can also be cited.
4. Certainly the modern industrial economy around the world that became fraught with unstable financial calibrations, imbalances of payments and stressed regulatory systems on policies and banking would often create currency crises, wages dichotomies, retail business fluctuations and consumer/ employment panic. Expectedly , a machine oriented economic ecosystem will surely make demands on energy sources, pricing and consumption.
5. The above realities, fed by regional insecurity, environmental challenges and sociopolitical imbalances will result in low investment, poor productivity and financial pressures, worries and uncertainties on farmers,traders and to mature, all Cross Riverians, especially the youths will have a better standard of life with higher self worth. Already our interventions in security architecture have rebranded our youths from criminalities to credibility.
And the scorecard continues. I have also ensured a hitch free, immediate and down to bottom distribution of the palliative items sent to our state. Under my watch, no package meant for Cross Riverians will be held back, delayed or denied. Our people must enjoy the gifts of life and have the true paradise experience without any let or hindrance.
9. Compatriots, in the light of the above, my appeal is for all of us to reassess our roles in the circumstance and exercise logical restraint in our words and actions. Peaceful protests are constitutional channels of ventilating citizens’ right to expression.
But historical hindsight s are also instructive with the tell-tales of endsars still dripping, shouldn’t we rather express the solemnity of patriotic goodwill in this ebbing moment of our history by lifting our feet from the mire of anger and despair and placing them on the solid rock of the reality of recovery driven by sacrifices on the altar of time.
10. As accounted above, many nation states have taken their own turns of drinking from the cup of economic calamities served by strong natural activations. If time and circumstances have rolled the cup into our territory, let us not bury our heads in the sand as the proverbial ostrich. Let us not break down the house of recovery that we are about to roof. Let us be gallant, heroic and steadfast to write our narrative of how we fell, refused to stay prostate but rose up and dusted ourselves to march to success. Let us prove to the world that we love our fatherland by not sinking the boat of our existence but boldly resetting the sail and pushing to a destination of hope,brightness and happiness. In this, we live as Cross Riverians to honor the labor of heroes past and bequeath a bouquet of bounties to the generation next.
11. Having said that much, it remains to be added as a strict cautionary verse that no patriotic Cross Riverian in or outside government will want to witness the carnage carried out on our state during the endsars protest of most small entrepreneurs. The chain negative end outcomes will then spell out in hunger, anger, leadership distrust, hard times, reductions in income, tilted distribution of wealth and economic downturn.
6. Unfortunately, this administration came in when the recession was rising sporadically to its peak demanding very extreme measures to counter its fangs. As expected, the change of baton and massive expectations from the electorate raised the stakes even higher. Media induced anxiety spiked. Political intolerance escalated. Increase in the Consumer price index became alarming and liquidity shortages appear to be the killer. As it were, we cannot pretend to be unaware of our perilous national trajectory flowing from the surging insurgency through the global recession that took its national toll before the COVID ravage and the Russian/ Ukraine,Israeli/Palestinian wars among others. The above upheavals sent inflation galloping around the world, Nigeria and our state inclusive.
7. Fortunately, my leadership has risen to the challenge with expressed acts of responsibility, kindness and compassion with diverse comforting social supports and interventions, some of which have immediate succor while others promise medium and long term results which require patience and understanding to tap into the harvests.
8. In specific terms, my administration has extensively renewed road, health and educational infrastructures in order to make life easier and boost the wellbeing of every Cross Riverian. I have relieved our parents of the burden of WAEC fees so that no child’s education is stalled.
Recently I have committed 10 billion naira to drive the thorny issue of pensions and gratuities which seriously embarrassed our aged parents since 2013. Very soon our fathers and mothers who served the state will smile and that ugly trend of owing them will be estopped.I will also want to add the massive social interventions rendered by my Wife who has through her pet programme:Humanity beyond Borders changed the dynamics in health, womanhood and childcare. Our explorations in oil and gas, local contents, climate change,ICT,agriculture and the blue economy are massive and when the fruits begin presumably by indiscreet non-indigenes who defied all logical questions that still bug the mind.
12. What has the protest got to do with the Tinapa 200 rooms hotel still lying desolate? How does protest connect with the wrecking of the international conference center; the wiping off of a generation of history and fittings at Chronicle and the destruction of private properties built via painful sweats and labor. Somebody needs to be convinced how a civil protest would want to bring down the garment factory feeding over a hundred households, not to mention entire haulage systems decimated, all in the name of protest. As these images keep replaying in the minds of indigenous Cross Riverians whose common patrimony is still being diverted to fix the avoidable damage,a holy anger erupts in our minds and compel us to vow that we will not go to sleep and allow a repeat of such unconnected acts.
13. For the benefit of the doubt, any person or group who will want to test the resolve of the government and people of Cross River State should be prepared to be an ugly guest at the Afokang correctional center without trial. Enough should be enough of dragging our peace loving nature into trials.Yes we are peace loving, decent and hospitable but henceforth naysayers to our true nature will have a nasty experience in return.
A word is enough for the wise.Let any conceived protest go through due process and within the prism of the law enforcement before, during and after. Let parents instruct their children in line with the ways and customs of our state. Let the world understand that Cross River State is a haven of peace and not a hell of hatred.
God bless you all!
God bless Cross River State!
God bless Nigeria!
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