Vice presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2019 elections, Mr. Peter Obi, has again appealed to youth across the country, particularly those from Anambra State and South East, to go off the streets in order not to allow their well thought-out protest to be hijacked by forces of darkness.
The appeal was made known in a statement he personally signed yesterday.
Recalling his various tweets and statements on the protest, Obi said it was pertinent to continue to remind Nigerian youths that they had done well commencing the process of extricating their future from those who do not care about them.
“Your message is taken seriously by Nigerians and the international community when disseminated through peaceful means or in an environment where peace reigns, which is what the bad eggs who have infiltrated the protest are not happy with,” he observed.
He specially pleaded with the youth of Anambra State to hearken to the words of Governor Willie Obiano and stop the protest now so that “our dear state does not become notorious for looting, arson, rape, rapine and other criminal activities. These, according to him, were not vices any state or people should be proud of.
“As the Light of the Nation, we shall strive to continue to show the light,” he declared.
In an earlier message to Nigerians sent out through his tweeter handle on Thursday, October 22, Mr. Obi had noted: “Our purposeful and peaceful #EndSARS and enthrone good governance protest appears to have been hijacked by the enemies within. They are now using it to kill or harm innocent people, and to destroy public assets and property of hard-working Nigerians. For every life lost, we all lost, for everyone harmed, we are all harmed; for every public or private asset destroyed, our collective assets are destroyed. This is not in our character and must not be allowed to continue. Ours is to build, not to destroy.”
On the threat by reckless fringe that Igbo should leave the South-West, Obi thanked South-West leaders for rising to the occasion by condemning it, describing it as a “barbaric and atavistic throw-back to old and superseded ways.” He asserted that such threats should be condemned by all men and women of goodwill as part of the grand plan to trivialise the spontaneous statement by the youth that ‘Enough is enough.”
He also thanked leaders from other zones who were working round the clock to check the menace of enemies who have hijacked the peaceful #EndSARS protest.
Similarly, Obi pleaded with Igbo youths in wherever part of the country they are to continue to be of good behaviour. He also praised for leadership of Ohaneze under its President-General, Chief Nnia Nwodo for his strong presence of mind.