SAN FRANCISCO, April 17, (THEWILL) – Few days after two federal lawmakers alongside other public officials were stoned by irate constituents in Funtua, Katsina State, a coalition of civil society organisations in Ondo State has threatened to deal with any Senator representing the people of the state who fails to deliver dividends of democracy to their people.
The Convener and National Coordinator of Occupy Senators, Mr Retson Tekedeh, stated this during a press conference on Monday after the maiden inauguration of “Occupy Senators in Ondo State” in Akure, the Ondo capital.
He explained that the group was put in place across the geopolitical zones of the country to recruit people from each state for more accountability of their representatives at the National Assembly.
Tekedeh lamented that representatives of the state, particularly in the Senate, were “indifferent, callous and unconcerned about the yearnings of the people”, pointing out that most of them do not have offices in their districts and constituencies.
According to him, “With the monumental political corruption in the Senate, it is the ordinary Nigerian people that are suffering. Our senators are playing politics in Abuja while the President is working to fix Nigeria.
“No senator representing the people of Ondo State can decide to play with our future, support looters of our commonwealth and fight a President who has shown the desire to govern rather than play politics.”
The Occupy Senators arrowhead accused the lawmakers of undermining the efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari to develop the country, urging the leadership of the National Assembly to stop being “a major clog in the wheel of progress”.
His words, “We have come to the point where confrontation is heavenly and cowardice is hellish. We fight political insensitivity, we die; if we don’t fight political insensitivity, we die. We will fight political insensitivity and die.”
Also speaking, the representative of ECOWAS Youths Assembly, Mr. Ikumapayi Smith, described the group as the Citizens’ office for good governance that would force the representatives to be accountable to the electorates.
He disclosed that the group would also mark “the commencement of a national mass movement against bad governance, audacious political impunity and mindless looting exemplified by the leadership of the National Assembly”.
On the Funtua outburst which happened at an APC rally last Saturday, reports have it that it took the effort of a combined team of security personnel to rescue notable politicians, including the Governor’s entourage, as they came under attack from protesters.
Stones and shoes were reportedly used in attacking the dignitaries.
Some vehicles in the entourage of Governor Bello Masari were smashed by irate youths while security personnel had to use tear-gas to disperse the crowd and free the dignitaries.
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