Fuel/Naira Scarcity: PDP Cautions Against Violent Protests in Kwara

Tunde Akanbi, Ilorin.

On Feb 15, 2023

The Director General of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Gubernatorial Campaign Council in Kwara state, Professor Ali Ahmad, has appealed to aggrieved protesters across the country, particularly in Kwara state, to remain calm and maintain peace so as not to worsen the increasing tension from the hardship being experienced by residents over the ongoing fuel scarcity and change of currency in the country.

According to a press statement by Sulaiman Abdulwaheed Olamilekan,

the Media Assistant to the Director-General, Ahmad called on the residents to rather vote out the APC-led administration at the February 25 and March 11 general elections.

‘We have monitored the viral videos of the ongoing protests in various areas of Kwara state by aggrieved residents over the hardship resulting from the insensitivity, poor planning, and lack of focus of the APC-led administration in the country.

‘We in the Kwara State PDP empathize with our people and we understand the hardship they are experiencing over the scarcity of fuel and the inability to access cash for their legitimate business transactions.

‘It is, however, important that we do not allow the legitimate protest to be seized by hoodlums who might intend to exploit the situation to cause further crisis and endanger the lives and property of residents.

‘That is why we advise that the residents direct their anger to reject the APC and all its candidates at the polls as a way of showing their displeasure with a government that has failed the people on all fronts.

‘Nigerians will recall that the hardship being experienced now is not only unprecedented but is also a direct product of cluelessness and lack of proper planning, all of which never happened when the PDP was in power,’ the statement read in part.

The party appealed to the various government agencies responsible for handling issues of fuel and currency supply and circulation to step up their games, think out of the box and respond positively to the yearnings of the people.

According to the party, the authorities must immediately devise new methods of supplying the new currency notes and fuel so as to make the items easily available for the people, thus alleviating the suffering of the people.

‘Government exists to serve the people and continuously improve their standard of living,’ the statement further read.

The director general also urged the security agencies in the state to carefully and efficiently manage the situation so as to protect all lives and properties and to ensure that criminally-minded people, mischief makers, and political manipulators do not turn the situation into a partisan game.

Edited by Amaka E. Nliam