Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka and prominent members of the civil society groups yesterday in Abuja took their protest to the National Assembly, demanding an immediate commencement of the process of impeaching President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who has been away for 51 days, attending to his health problems in Saudi Arabia.
Leading the group of thousands of protesters who took to the streets, Soyinka said that most Nigerians had been sleeping while some cabal had been holding the nation to ransom at the detriment of over 140 million Nigerians.
“We as Nigerians have just woken up from our sleep. We are ready to fight bad governance, corruption and lies by erstwhile leaders”, Soyinka told the cheering gathering.
The Nobel literature prize winner conceded that since the absence of the president, members of the National Assembly, the senators in particular, had not been up and doing in administering the legislative functions they were elected to perform.
He said Nigerians know what the Senate has been doing over Yar’Adua’s ill health.
“If these people continue to lie about the president’s condition without taking appropriate decisions in accordance with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, we, as compatriots, will not rest until good governance, transparency is adhered to,” Soyinka added.
“The nation has been despised and treated with contempt,” he said. “We’ve been treated as colonials, colonialised all over, this time by internal colonialism. We are all dignified beings who deserve to know the truth at all times about our methods of governance.”
The group, made up of Socialist Workers Movement, Save Nigeria Group, Civil Society and Advocacy Group, among others, carried placards with inscriptions like: “Enough is Enough,” “Impeach Yar’Adua”, “Say no to Corruption”, “Nigeria is not a Terrorist Nation but our Leaders are Terrorists,” “Umaru Where are You?”
Also speaking on the event, a former member of the National Assembly, Hon. Farouk Adamu Aliyu, said that the protest was not in connection with religion or tribe but was organised to condemn what he called “criminal cabal that are holding the country hostage.”
“It was the same criminals that supported third term of ambition of former president Olusegun Obasanjo. Today we are saying no to criminality, corruption and lies. The Senate and the House of Representatives must take a decision over a missing president,” Aliyu said.
A chieftain of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Alhaji Buba Galadima, pointed out that Nigerians of all religions had gathered together to express their dissatisfaction with the present administration.
He said the country is not governed by any law but lies.
“The National Assembly passes an appropriation bill since 2009 to end in December 31, 2009. But our corrupt leaders, thieves, looters have extended the looting to 2010 without a law. That is why they can afford to send their children to schools overseas, leaving our schools in terrible conditions, our hospitals are in dilapidated condition, and our roads are now very bad.”
Galadima decried the state of the country’s judiciary and the police, adding that it was unacceptable.
Other people who spoke at the protest included Hajiya Naja’atu Mohammed Yusuf, Chief Femi Falana (SAN), Pastor Tunde Bakare, Pastor Sarah Omaku, and a crop of others.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Dimeji Bankole, was booed by the protesters. Bankole who came after the protesters have tendered their grievances was not allowed to make comments.
According to the protesters, the speaker should meet his fellow members and take a decision at the National Assembly and not to address them, saying that his address was irrelevant if the law makers could not work in accordance with the constitution.
Reacting to the protest, the police commissioner in charge of Federal Capital Territory, Mr. John Haruna, said that after receiving a letter regarding the protest they had to mobilise thousands of police men at some strategic locations.