A few hours before the commencement of the planned nationwide protests scheduled to begin between August 1 and 10 across Nigeria, Osun State Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, has implored protesters to be law-abiding before, during, and after the protests.
He affirmed that no act of violence of any kind would be entertained by his administration in the state.
The governor acknowledged that protesters have the inalienable right, as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to embark on a protest.
However, he frowned upon any act that had the potential to disrupt the peace and tranquilly of Osun State and its people.
“In Osun, we are known to be good and peaceful, and we should allow that to remain our pride as a state that is always ahead of others in all things that are good and developmental,” he stated.
Speaking at a comprehensive citizen engagement dialogue with members of civil society organisations, other groups, and security operatives throughout the state, the governor, represented by the Deputy Governor, Prince Kola Adewusi, alongside some members of the State Executive Council, called for a peaceful demonstration. The meeting was held at the Finance House in Abere.
At the meeting that lasted over two hours, the governor maintained that “the peace and harmony of the state should be of paramount interest to us during the planned protests.”
“My administration’s commitment, at all times, to making Osun a reference point for other states in Nigeria remains germane,” he added.
He emphasised the need for members of civil society organisations in Osun, as well as other stakeholders planning to take part in the protests, to eschew any act capable of undermining the peace and security of the state.
Earlier in their remarks, Osun State Commissioner of Police, Mr Umar Abba, and the General Officer Commanding the Engineering Construction Regiment (ECR) in Ede, Brigadier General Abdul Kareem Aliyu, also admonished the protesters to be decorous while carrying out the protests in Osun State.
The G.O.C. of ECR Ede pointed out that Osun is unarguably the most peaceful state in Nigeria and counselled the protesters not to compromise this and other good attributes of the state for the sake of staging a violent protest.
In the same vein, all the service chiefs, including representatives from the Nigeria Police, Army, DSS, Immigration, Correctional Centres, Civil Defence, Air Force, and Road Safety, were unanimous in their contributions.
They stressed the need to prevent any tendency for the protests to devolve into hooliganism and other acts of lawlessness, emphasising that anyone caught will be made to face the consequences.
Members of the civil society organisations and other non-governmental organisations on whose premise the dialogue was called for, in their different remarks, commended Governor Ademola Adeleke and his administration for providing the forum for such a dialogue, a sequel to the kick-off of the nationwide protests throughout Nigeria on Thursday.
Accordingly, they all endorsed the need to abide by all the terms of agreements reached at the meeting, which basically centred on achieving violent-free protests in Osun State during the coming nationwide protests.
Earlier in his address of welcome, Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Oluomo Kolapo Alimi, dismissed the notion in some quarters that Governor Adeleke called for the meeting in order to grease the palms of the CSO and other comrades and activists to dissuade them from being effective in the protest. While describing the allegations as completely baseless and mischievous, Oluomo Alimi commended the CSO members and other activists for their large turnout, saying they are genuine activists for being bold and courageous enough to attend the meeting, despite pressures in some quarters to do otherwise.
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