The Leader of the Northern Caucus in the House of Representatives, Hon. Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, on Sunday, begged Nigerians to shun the planned protest slated for August 1st, 2024 over the present challenges facing the country, saying the country is now in a tense situation.
Hon. Ado-Doguwa, who doubles as Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), gave the charge while addressing the forum of former APC Council Chairmen in Kano State’ who paid him a courtesy call at his residence in Kano State.
He also called on the parliament to undertake reforms through the amendment of laws to ensure better governance at the state and local government level, especially on local government autonomy and conduct of their elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) instead of the State Electoral Commissions controlled by Governors.
He said that Nigeria is now in a tense state because of the anticipation of the plan by some youths to protest.
Hon. Ado-Doguwa said: “And up till this moment, nobody has come out to claim that he is the organiser. Some people were said to have already left to partake.
“Tell our youths in the APC, responsible youths, they should be reminded that protest is not the way to go. They should pray for their leaders. No responsible person should come out to protest on something that was built on deceit.
“I agree there is hardship. We represent the people and we are doing our best to help in bringing solutions to them. And because this hardship started almost 16 years ago, the truth is, it cannot be solved in just one year. It cannot be done. People should not allow themselves to be brainwashed to participate.
“Our people in Rano, Kibiya, Wudil, Rogo or Karaye, Sumaila or Takai should not heed calls to come out from the 16 local government areas on August 1st to a protest to disparage the Kano State governor, any leader or the federal government.
“We are still maintaining our stand on what Allah has ordained believing that whatever is happening is from Allah. We are good Muslims and we believe in the call on us to obey our leaders. That is our stand and we will not allow anybody to instigate us to rebel against them at the state or federal level.
“I am sure every one of you will agree with me that, protest is a disobedience to leaders. So it is good we need to calls and admonitions by our religious leaders and responsible people should answer those calls in order to live in peace and you should all remain in your houses on August 1st.
“Our supporters should remain in their houses, nobody should go out. If there is anything you can do for the country on that day is to gather people in your immediate environment to pray to Allah for Nigeria to have peace.
“As long we live in peace, there will be development. As long as there is peace, leaders will understand the mistakes they have made and make amends and Allah will help them to work for the country.
“So, I am using this opportunity to announce that, in Kano South, as you agreed that I am your leader, as one of the leaders in Kano South, I want to announce to the world that none of our responsible sons will come out to protest or disparage the Kano State government or the federal government.
“We’ll live in peace. If there is a place that there will be protest, certainly it will be elsewhere not Kano South. We have reliable information that, political intelligence reports and otherwise that there are some people who want to use what is being bandied about the protest on social media to execute their nefarious hidden agenda.”
The lawmaker informed the visit of former APC Chairmen that the withdrawal of fuel subsidy was done with good intention by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, saying that it will gradually pay off.
He said that governors should also be held accountable for the economic challenges being faced in the country because they are receiving substantial amounts of resources but only a few of them use the resources judiciously for the purpose they were provided for.
According to him, it’s not about the federal government only because the country is running a constitutional democracy with federating units that must also be held accountable too.
Hon. Ado-Doguwa commended the latest ruling by the Supreme Court on local government autonomy which he said was a positive development for Nigeria especially if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would be allowed to conduct impartial area council elections just like they conduct general elections.
He said State electoral Commissions conducting the local government elections are mere extensions of the party offices that control their respective states by simply sharing elective offices to members of the ruling parties in the states.
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
and then