Group bemoans Nigeria’s plight at 61, says it is sleeping giant

A socio-cultural group, the Mangroves People Leadership Initiative (MAPLI), on Friday took a holistic analysis of the plight of Nigeria and lamented that all indices pointed at a nation that has lost its compass to the path of greatness.

According to the group, given the vicissitudes experienced under President Muhammadu Buhari administration and dashed expectations of the people, Nigeria has become a sleeping giant as all her potentials had been wasted.

The Chairman of the Edo State chapter of MAPLI, Ambassador Bright Omokhodion Annillin, who disclosed this while addressing a press conference in Benin to mark Nigeria’s 61st Independence anniversary said ” Nigeria as a nation has the worst indices in virtually all aspects of expected dividends of democratic meaningful gains in the annals of her national life.

According to him, “this administration has greeted us with unprecedented hardship, insecurity, inflation, abuse of power, militarisation of regions, charade fight against Boko Haram, nepotism of unparalleled measure, disunity amongst the people, extrajudicial killings, recklessness and executive rascality to say the least.”

“Yet our nation though brutally bruised has resolved to resist on her toes the quick and urgent passing away of this inglorious reign marred with injustice, impunity and quantum looting, among others”, he further bemoaned.

MAPLI, Annillin said, is calling for a new dawn, just as he admonished this adminstration to backpedal and retrace the will of the people and the spirit that gave them victory in the 2015 elections, saying “it is never too late to be right as this nation cannot fail under our watch.”

“How sad it is for us to watch the country lose the gains made since independence in 1960 with increasing palpable national unity ,improved dispensation of justice and practice of separation of power, freedom of speech amongst the people and liberty of the Press, economic growth and so on.

“This administration and its handlers have plunged us, as a nation, back to the days of cruel discharge of reckless power by the military, inappropriate use of our common patrimony to fund and rehabilitate ex-Boko Haram fighters, an action we deem inimical to the peace of the nation and true fight against terrorism and the reason we have lost faith in them and the consequent massive brain drain and alarming insecurity across the country,” he also alleged.

The Edo MAPLI Chairman also condemned what he described as “a harrowing experience in the last six years and further push to marginalise the South – South people who are a major beneficiary of this obvious bad leadership as captured by the quality of life of our people as profiled by Transparency International and other foreign organizations.”

“We as the voice of the South – South People, demand accountability, justice, equitable distribution of our common resources, adequate security, a reduction in the pump price of PMS (fuel) at least to the immediate pre-Buhari era.

“We also call for an urgent and necessary resuscitation of the economic team of the nation with a view to stopping this reckless borrowing with no positive economic impact and look within and application of prudence in seeking a way out of our self inflict economic woes.

“We seize this opportunity to call our people to be strong and vehement in the struggle of emancipation of our motherland while we celebrate’ life’ as independence with a proviso: ” when there is life, there is hope and charge our people to use their votes wisely come 2023,” the group reassured.

While congratulating Nigerians on the 61st Independence anniversary celebration, it charged them to use the occasion to further consolidate and mobilise to speak with one voice “as an instrument of unity and resilience.”

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