Works Minister David Umahi has stated that inhabitants of the Southeast have no reason to join other areas to protest against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over rising costs of living in the country.
Umahi stated that the President had ended the region’s ongoing farmer/herder tensions.
He stated that such fights exacerbated the area’s insecurity and hampered food production, resulting in widespread famine.
The minister stated this while speaking to reporters in his hometown of Uburu, Ohaozara Local Government Area, Ebonyi State.
Umahi explained that the high cost of living in the country was the cumulative effect of past administrations’ actions and inactions, which President Tinubu has started solving through policies and programmes.
The minister said the Tinubu administration favoured the Southeast greatly through appointments to key positions, including himself, the first Minister of Works from the Southeast.
He said the administration has been doing many projects in the region, adding that with all these, the Southeast has no moral justification to join those protesting against the President over the high cost of living in the land.
Umahi urged residents of the region not to be lured by any group or other regions to join any protest against the President.
The former Ebonyi State governor described last week’s protest by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) as unhealthy and unreasonable.
He urged fellow Nigerians to be patriotic and shun any act that could.
“The present hunger that everybody is talking about didn’t start today. It’s a built-up to a number of factors. Before the past administration and present administration, we had been having a build-up of insecurity. We had farmers/herders clashes over a number of years…
“At a time, I was the Chairman of NEC committee on resolving farmers/herders clashes. So, I went through a number of states, especially the northern states, settling the farmers/herders clashes, and it yielded a number of fruits.
“That problem dealt a huge blow to food production. The issue of kidnapping and the issue of insecurity prevented farmers from going to their farms because here we are talking about hunger.
“And so, you expect the administration of President Tinubu to fix all those things within nine months? It’s not possible. It’s a cumulative effect of the past, like I have mentioned. We should be asking ourselves: how do we solve these problems? That’s what the President has started doing. When something has got to the climax, you don’t expect to resolve it overnight.
“If you check very well, especially in the Southeast, you will know that we no longer have incessant farmers/herders clashes. So, why should we join the protest when the President has solved our major problem? The problem we now have in the Southeast is self-inflicted. That is the issue of unknown but known gunmen.
“So, if we are protesting, who are we protesting against? We are protesting against a President that has solved herders/farmers clashes. If you remove the issue of unknown gunmen, the Southeast will be completely safe and farmers can work. So, we can’t go and join anybody to protest.”