The Labour Party (LP) 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has questioned the silence of those who protested against the administration of former President, Goodluck Jonathan.
Naijaonpoint recalls that when Jonathan increased fuel from ₦87 to ₦120, the move sparked mass protests, known as ‘Occupy Nigeria’, across major cities of the country.
Jonathan also faced severe backlash from leaders of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), who are now mostly in the All Progressives Congress (APC), including Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka and Pastor Enoch Adeboye.
While delivering a speech at Pa Edwin Clark’s memorial lecture in Abuja, Peter Obi queried whether all those people are now dead following their silence on the current economic situation in the country.
The former Governor of Anambra State argued that the labours of our heroes past are now in vain.
He said, “For somebody like me who had just been part of the 2023 general election, he lived a life of courage, a life of sacrifice, a life of justice, a life that is valued. But most importantly, he continued living that life to the end. So why are we saying it (labours of heroes past) should not be in vain.
“I listened to my brother Mike when you talked about, ‘may the Labour of our heroes past not be in vain’. I’m happy that Jonathan is here. But I can tell you their sacrifice is in vain. They have sacrificed for nothing. We were in this country, when people were protesting, when there was no need to protest under Goodluck Jonathan. where are those protesters? Have they died? Where are they?
“So why are we saying it (labours of heroes past) should not be in vain? Jonathan increased fuel from N87 to N120 and people were protesting in this country. And when it was N900 they weren’t protesting.
“Again, so why are we saying it (labours of heroes past) should not be in vain? People protested when $1 was N180, and when it was N1500 they weren’t protesting. Are they dead?
“I spoke a few days ago and some people said I am demarketing Nigeria when. World Bank has just shown 75% of Nigerians in rural areas are poor. Is World Bank demarketing Nigeria?
“UNICEF two days ago announced that Nigeria now have over 2 million malnourished children, the second highest in the world. Are they demarketing Nigeria? That’s just the reality. Their labour is in vain.
“We have a country now that’s not democratic. We are not a democratic country , let’s tell ourselves the truth. Elections that happened in Edo, is it democratic? Everybody know who won that generation. So why are we keeping it and saying let their work not be in vain?
“It’s in vain. So we can start picking the pieces now because they’ve destroyed everything people have sacrificed for. Look at what is happening in Nigeria today, All we do today is stealing, stealing, stealing, and stealing, you know, and we have to do something.
“He lived a courageous life. May the God Almighty that called him home grant him eternal rest. And grant us the courage to look into what a father lived for and start picking up our pieces. May God bless all of us.”