Hardship Protest: Your Speech Terribly Failed To Connect With Nigerians, Ezekwesili Tells Tinubu
A former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili has stated that President Bola Tinubu’s broadcast speech regarding the nationwide protest was underwhelming.
The president on Sunday addressed Nigerians in a broadcast following the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protests, which began on August 1.
Ezekwesili in a post on X platform, stated that the President’s speech was a “monumental missed opportunity to placate citizens with sound answers and outlines of convincing evidence-based actions”.
She added that the speech failed to connect to what the citizens who are on the streets were angry and protesting about.
“@officialABAT , As one of millions of Nigerians who were at church when you delivered your late-in-coming Speech to Citizens on the #EndBadGovernancelnNigeria protests, let me loudly say it was terribly underwhelming to read.
“Your Speech reads like a page from your party manifesto and terribly failed to connect to what our Citizens on the Streets are angry and protesting about.
“Your speech is quite a monumental missed opportunity to placate citizens with sound answers and outline of convincing evidence-based actions that you and your @NigeriaGov will immediately take to address the priority #BadGovernance concerns,” she posted.
Ezekwesili added that the speech sounded as if the president was trying to get back at his “imaginary enemies”.
“Your Speech was sadly again written out of a mindset that is focused on ‘getting back at our enemies’. Imaginary enemies at that! No true Leader has the luxury of having ‘enemies’ among their Citizens. Not at all. A Public Leader becomes the leader of all with a mind that does not think of any as their enemies.
“This is why it is ever unfortunate to see Nigerian public ‘Leaders’ talk and behave like Losers on matters of public governance where they are expected to rally their all Citizens behind the common purpose of nation building.
“It is nauseating to observe this recurrent innate unwillingness of Nigerian public leaders to admit responsibility for the demands of the same public leadership that they kill and maim citizens to assume.
“@officialABAT , Citizens know when they are being badly governed and from what one can see, Nigerians have now realized that they must collectively speak up and take action otherwise their self-obsessed rulers (and not leaders) will not pay them any heed at all,” Ezekwesili said.
While remembering those who lost their lives during the protest, Ezekwesili urged the President to fish out all law enforcement personnel that have killed and maimed citizens and ensure they are sanctioned.
“As we remember and pray for families of all our citizens mauled down or maimed for demanding an End to Bad Governance, let me call on you @officialABAT to immediately instruct the IG @PoliceNG and his men to “Stop Killing Peaceful Protesters Now!
“Also fish out all law enforcement personnel that have killed and maimed citizens and ensure they are sanctioned as a deterrence to their colleagues,” she said.
