‘You’ve made a loud statement’ — Mbah, Umahi commend south-east residents for shunning protest

Peter Mbah, governor of Enugu, and Dave Umahi, minister of works, have commended the people of south-east for shunning the #EndBadGorvernance protest.

Nigerians have been on the streets protesting against economic hardship and spiralling inflation since August 1.

In Lagos, Abuja, Kano, and Kaduna, security operatives dispersed protesters with teargas canisters as the protest took a violent dimension.

Mbah and Umahi spoke on Sunday during the inspection of the Enugu-Onitsha, Enugu-Abakaliki, and Enugu-Port Harcourt road projects being executed by the federal and Enugu governments.

Mbah thanked the people of the region for heeding the government’s plea to shun the protest, adding that such an act has saved the south-east from loss of lives and businesses.

“I also want to take the opportunity to commend our people greatly for heeding our call to shun the protests and go about their businesses. We commend them highly because they understand the value of hard work,” Mbah said.

“Sometimes, you may not be able to appreciate the effect of government policies immediately, but I tell you that some of these policies are well-intentioned.

“With time, if we can just exercise a little more patience with the federal government, we are going to begin to see the values of these reforms.

“We want to continue to call on our people to go about their businesses and know that if they destroy our assets, we are still going to use the wealth of our common patrimony to fix those assets. So, we must remain focused and continue to do our work.”

On his part, Umahi said the Igbo community all over Nigeria had “made a loud statement by not protesting”.

He added that there was no need for the people of the south-east to protest, especially now that President Bola Tinubu has their interest in mind.

“We are not going to protest. We want proper integration in the affairs of this country.

“Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Mr President, started it by giving an Igbo man the minister of works, appointing an Igbo man as a service chief, among others,” Umahi said.

“We have been excluded from governance and development in the past. But now, you can see infrastructural developments in south-east.

“So, why should we protest against a man who has given to us what was never given to us before?

“I thank Governor Mbah very much for showing leadership not only in development strides but also when it mattered most. I appreciate other governors and other states that did not protest.”