Protest Rocks Kwara over Shortage of New Naira Notes, Fuel Scarcity
Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
Thousands of aggrieved residents of Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, Wednesday staged a peaceful protest over shortage of new naira notes and fuel scarcity in the state.
The protesters, who mainly comprise the youth, reportedly started the protest at Gerin Alimi and later spread to such areas like Oloje, Ogidi, Oja Oba and UITH, among other adjoining roads in the state capital.
The youth made bonfires on major roads in the town, which resulted in gridlock.
Men of the state Police Command were drafted to the affected areas to restore normalcy.
The state Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Rafiu Ajakaye, urged the people to remain calm, saying: “We’re in this together.”
The statement said that Governor Abdulrazaq sympathized with the people of the state on the continuous scarcity of the naira as a result of the recent Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) currency redesign policy, while he appealed to the people of the state to remain calm and peaceful, and not give in to any frustrations over the naira scarcity.
“I testify to the inconvenience this development has brought. We are in this together, and we are not missing any opportunity to work with the CBN and the federal government to bring ease to the people within reasonable time. I admit it has been tough, and we do not take your patience for granted.
“I sincerely appeal to you to remain calm. We are a resilient people who are popular for our peaceful nature and our history of seeking reliefs with calmness and absolute restraints. This is a passionate appeal to the good people of Kwara State. Again, I share in your pains, and I urge you to exercise the highest level of restraints as we surmount this challenge together,” he said.
Also, the opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state has appealed for calm and patience over the continued scarcity of new naira notes and fuel in the state.
A statement issued in Ilorin by the
Director General for the PDP Gubernatorial Campaign Council in the state, Prof. Ali Ahmad, urged the people of the state and Nigerians to use the forthcoming election to vote out APC in the country.
The statement read: “We have monitored the viral videos of the ongoing protest in various areas of Kwara State by aggrieved residents over the hardship resulting from the insensitive, poor planning, and lack of focus by the APC-led administration in the country.
“We in the Kwara State PDP empathise with our people and we understand the hardship they are experiencing over the scarcity of fuel and the inability to access cash for their legitimate business transactions.
“It is however important that we do not allow the legitimate protest to be seized by hoodlums who might intend to exploit the situation to cause further crisis and endanger the lives and property of residents. That is why we advise that the residents direct their anger to reject the APC and all its candidates at the polls as a way of showing their displeasure with a government that has failed the people on all fronts.
“Nigerians will recall that the hardship being experienced now are not only unprecedented but they are also direct products of cluelessness and lack of proper planning, all of which never happened when the PDP was in power.
“We also use this opportunity to appeal to the various government agencies responsible for handling issues of fuel and currency supply and circulation to step up their games, think out of the box and respond positively to the yearnings of the people.”
Ahmad also urged the security agencies in the state to carefully and efficiently manage the situation so as to protect all lives and properties and to ensure that criminally minded people, mischief makers, and political manipulators do not turn the situation into a partisan game.
