Delta Obedient Elders’ Council, said on Wednesday that the 'insensitive speech' of President Bola Tinubu to toiling Nigerians at a moment of great expectations from him showed that he is out of touch with the reality of the country.
The council while reacting to issues from the ongoing #EndBadGovernace protest across the country, in a statement by its Chairman, Chris Biose, and Secretary, Solomon Akeni, urged the President to “desist from his grandstanding” and address realistic issues that affect the masses.
The council, however, noted that it was regrettable that the civil protest degenerated into violence, looting of property and destruction of public facilities in some parts of the country.
The statement said: “The President acknowledged the severe suffering of the masses but failed completely to present any fresh policy measure to respond to any of the demands of the protesters.
“On a general note, we find it shocking that President Tinubu failed to address the issue of horrendous killings of farmers in many parts of the country by armed Fulani herdsmen.
“It is unreasonable to believe that he does not know that this phenomenon is at the root of inability of Nigerian farmers to produce sufficient food for local consumption in the past few years.
“Nigerians accuse President Tinubu’s administration of lack of accountability, profligacy, expenditure on frivolous items while majority of Nigerians were suffering from intense hunger but he failed to address these issues. He was silent about rampaging oil thieves that run down the economy. Worse still, he made no mention of investigating brutal killing of Nigerian citizens by his police men.
“The fact that the President could read such an insensitive speech to toiling Nigerians at such a moment of great expectations from him shows that he is out of touch with the reality in his country. It also shows that he has all the wrong people surrounding him.
“The factors that consistently generate increasing poverty in Nigeria are systemic, requiring fundamental reforms. These are exactly what the President sought to avoid in his speech. His attitude in this regard emphasizes the need for continuous struggle of patriots to build a just and egalitarian society.
“With respect to the Niger Delta of which Delta State is a part, President Tinubu evinced a total lack of concern for the peculiar problems of the region.
“All the problems accentuated by his insensitive policies such as unbearable cost of transportation and food are infinitely multiplied in the Niger Delta due to difficulties of water transportation.”
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