Chief Patrick Osagie Eholor, President of the One Love Foundation and a social crusader, in this exclusive chat give his support to the #endsars protesters.
Excerpts:
Tell us more about your court case with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Musa Bello and the Nigeria Police Force
We have been caged for so long by charlatans. Human rights is our property. Nobody gives you your property. So nobody can tell us not to protest. Protest is done when people are not happy with the government. It is to draw government attention to inadequacies. So, when a man like Bello, who is a charlatan, would come and tell us not to protest, for us to avoid confrontation we had to go to court and seek redress on behalf of all of the teeming youth that have been frustrated by irresponsible government.
What have you to say about the seeming hijack of the #endsars protest by hoodlums?
Who are the hoodlums and who created them? A hungry man is an angry man. I have said it before that Nigeria is seating on a keg of gunpowder about to explode. Nigeria has army of youth that are unemployed. There is no infrastructure, there is no light etc. Even those with the intention of going into entrepreneurship cannot survive without electricity. Can a body survive without blood? Those you call hoodlums are now leading. They have caged those who have stolen our common patrimony. They have made life unbearable for the youth. I do not subscribe to violence. However, when some people are saying that you have to be peaceful and orderly some others are saying that we need justice we are tired of been peaceful and orderly. The youth who have nothing doing before now have an occupation which is to occupy the streets and protest against inadequacy.
On alleged plans to deploy the military to address cybercrime
The military cannot and will not be deployed to address cybercrime. It is not their job. It is not even the job of some policemen. Every other country have a special unit of the police force that does that function eg the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC). But EFCC is also as bad as SARS. They don’t know what they are doing. They have been bought over. Even the EFCC boss, Ibrahim Magu, is undergoing trial now. Every institution of this country is corrupt. So, the army cannot do it and they should not dare it. The days are counting. After 30 days the United Nations (UN) will intervene in the Nigeria crisis. Let me tell you something when the military kill one person they will kill all. We are ready to die. It is better to die for your right than to die as a refugee in Liberia. So, we are prepared. If need be we would die for this.
What do you expect to achieve with this protest?
It is very clear. If President Muhammadu Buhari is tired of governing us he should resign. This is the people’s revolution not mine. We are all springing out like the Arab Spring from different corners. We are saying enough of this injustice. We are saying we want our country back. People are ready. The world is watching us. We are saying that we will not allow the Americans or Europeans to speak for us again. It is not President Buhari or any of his aides that are the issues. We know that they are tyrants. The issue is those that are silent. Those who are afraid of dying. We must be prepared to die for other people to live.
On National President of Arewa Youth Consultative Forum(AYCF), Yerima Shettima’s statements
Nobody has monopoly of violence. Martin Luther King Junior would be happy today that Nigeria has finally wake up. Nelson Mandela also said that if we know the power that we have and give it to the youth to do the right thing we will be the greatest country in the world. We are not afraid. We hope to remain as one but if any group wants to leave there should be a referendum to support their wish and thus we can be applying for visa to visit each other.
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