With the nationwide protest hours away, a former deputy governor of Oyo State, Iyiola Oladokun has urged youths to rather exercise patience and listen to the voice of reason from leaders across various levels calling for caution regarding protesting rather than allowing themselves to be used by people with ulterior motives.
According to Oladokun, the protest was being backed by those by those embittered by their failure to secure public office at the elections.
He asked them to rest their cases and allow the present President Bola Tinubu administration implement his policies for the betterment of the people.
Making references to past protests which only resulted in destruction of properties and loss of lives, Oladokun enjoined youths keen on the August 1-10 protest to have a rethink and take to a sober reflection on the country.
He particularly called for introspection regarding whether protests, in the past, have always yielded the desired results whereas destructions, wastages have always been a constant feature.
Oladokun, in a statement made available to the Nigerian Tribune, urged the youths to shun listening to those he regarded as agents of distractions and destructions.
The former deputy governor tasked leaders irrespective of religious affiliations and political leanings to continue to admonish youths and masses to embrace dialogue to address the nation’s challenges rather than protests.
Oladokun said: “It’s time for sober reflection on our country We have so many agents of distractions and destructions in our midst.
“Now, our youths should also listen to the voice of reason from our traditional rulers, religious leaders and leaders of various patriotic interest groups and not allow themselves to be used by people with ulterior motives who, among other things, want to get what they desperately coveted but couldn’t get through the ballot box.
“The bitter experiences of the #EndSARS is still very fresh in our memory, where those who call out our youths could be of no help when the protest was hijacked by those who don’t wish our dear country well.
“They should rest their cases and allow the government to implement it’s various intervention policies so that our dear country can achieve the goals we are all advocating for. The planned protest can never bring anything good in Nigeria. It’s time to rethink properly.
“They need our preaching, counselling, and prayers all the time, especially now when their attentions have been captured by the lovers of chaos propagating Protests and Demonstrations.
I think it’s the responsibility of all genuine leaders irrespective of religious affiliations and political leanings to shout out to our youths and masses.
“We have always had protests in our country.
We had Ali must go in the 70s, June 12th debacle in the 90s, Endsars Protest of 2020s, and many untagged Protests.
“It has always been a way by the youths and the Masses to regig their grievances on one thing or the other. There will always be grievances. Even in advanced countries of the word. Therefore, the need will always arise for protest.
“But have we ever asked ourselves if these protests always bring the desired goals? It’s like we are exhibiting signs of lack of interest in the assessment of shortcomings in whatever we do in Africa and particularly in Nigeria.
“We have all seen that the end results of Protests have always been greater disaster. Lives would be lost, Property destroyed, wastages will manifest, future of most of our youths destroyed.
“For how long shall we continue in these wastages and destructions? It’s time we value more the lives of our future assets (our youths) and start influencing our Masses to be more productive in embracing dialogue to solve our problems instead of protests for destructions.”
