Abiola would have wanted you to wage war against poverty, Falana tells Buhari

Femi Falana, human rights activist, has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to wage a meaningful fight against poverty.

He said this at the national honours investiture for heroes of democracy at Aso Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday.

“Let me tell you what late Abiola would have wanted you to do; we want you to engage Nigerians to wage a meaningful fight against poverty in the country,” he said.

“We have enormous resources to make Nigerians happy.

“Section 16 of the Nigerian constitution ensures that the collective wealth, commonwealth of Nigerians remains in the hands of the masses and not in the hands of a few.’’

Falana condemned the “flagrant abuse of rights of Nigerians” by security operatives. He urged the president to direct security forces to respect the right of every Nigeria in the spirit of June 12.

He assured that Nigerians, especially human rights groups, will support the government in the effort to quell the acts.

Falana said the “human rights community in the country will work assiduously with your administration to put an end to the reckless killing of our people”.

He commended Buhari for the posthumous award conferred on Abiola and recognition of June 12 as Democracy Day.

“Mr President, we want to thank you very tremendously for recognising June 12. Some people are saying you should declare the result; you have declared the result,” he said.

“We now know the winner of that election officially, who is now being honoured with the order of GCFR reserved for heads of government in Nigeria.

“Before this regime, we have had seven governments that pretended that June 12 never existed. In the words of Abiola, we were clapping with one hand, but today, we are clapping with two hands.”