General Overseer, Save and Serve Christ Family Church, Abanla, Ibadan, Bishop Jide Orire has appealed to President Bola Tinubu as a matter of urgency to address the hunger and hardship being experienced by Nigerians.
The cleric made the appeal in an interview with Journalists in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital over the weekend, urging the president to rule the country on the platform of mercy.
According to him, the president as father of the nation needs to take drastic steps to find a lasting solution to the hardship which has plunged the country into unrest and disorder.
Bishop Orire said: “I want to urge President Bola Tinubu to act fast on the way out of the hardship facing the masses, the people are really hungry, angry and suffering, many do not have anything to eat, the situation of the country has forced many into begging and that is not good enough for the country which other nations refer to as giant of the Africa.
“I know that the president means well for the country, at the same time he needs to act fast before things get out of hand. He needs to do everything possible to reduce the price of fuel and food items which are a major cause of the hardship.
“President Bola Tinubu also needs to push the money his administration has recovered from oil subsidy removal since he assumed duty into the economy, all of these will help him achieve success in that regard.”
He urged the president not to cancel the sale of 50kg of rice at forty thousand naira (N40, 000) which he announced earlier to the masses, saying the development would aid the hardship facing the people.
According to him, the current situation has shown that rice produced in the country is not enough to sustain the people, just as he urged the president to open borders to allow food items to come in large quantities.
The Bishop lauded the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Professor Idris Mohammed and the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Chief Anjuri Ngelale for their unwavering commitment in dousing the tension occasioned by the hardship protest ongoing in the nation.
He said: “Unlike the EndSars protest during the previous administration, some of the federal government aides were heating up the polity with harsh words instead of calming the situation, their action actually aggravated the protest which saw many public property destroyed and some people killed.
“I also want to commend the president for his two consecutive addresses, this shows him as a leader who has the love of the country at heart and who also means well for the people.”
Bishop Orire, further noted that: “A woman fell into a gutter near my residence and I rushed to assist her, after asking her some questions, she said she hadn’t eaten anything and that the people she came to do some job for did not show up, immediately I gave her some money to take care of herself, the woman betrayed emotion and wept profusely.
“This is one the reasons I am appealing to President Tinubu to act fast on the hardship facing the people, there are many people like that across the country who are hungry and angry, some already have mental agony,” the clergy noted.
Bishop Orire said the nation does not need to draft another Constitution but urged the president to put the current one, the 1999 Constitution in proper perspective in order to give equal development to all the regions in the country.
According to him, any attempt to draft a new constitution will amount to wasting funds and resources of the nation which the government would have used for national development.
He also urged President Tinubu to put up price control mechanism in order to ensure proper regulation on market price all over the country, adding that the government can engage the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps ( NSCDC) as agency to enforce compliance.
He also advised government to involve royal fathers in the exercise in ensuring that market men and women comply with price control mechanism.
Speaking on the protest, the renowned cleric said even though, section 40 of 1999 Constitution guarantees the assembly of the people, the protesters should not destroy public property, but do the protest in the right way.
He advised the Federal Government to dialogue with political activists in the country including Nnamdi Kanu, Sunday Igboho, Asari Dokubo, the Islamic Cleric Abubarka Gumi and many others with a view of ending insurgency in the nation.
While admonishing religious leaders to pray for the nation, and be wary of what they teach their members concerning the situation of the country, he urged those who are rich to assist the poor, saying the government alone cannot do it all.
“There should be brotherly love among the Yorubas, Igbos, Hausas, and leaders of various political sects and ethnic groups in the nation. This will unite us and out an end to political unresting the nation.”
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