Students, markets women, and artisans under the aegis of Jerubaal’s Peace Foundation marched through major streets in Abeokuta, capital city of Ogun State yesterday, to protest the rise in the pump prices of petroleum.
They later converged on Iwe-Iroyin House, asking the governors of the South West to join the strike “else they will be seen as a bunch of disappointment and non-progressive lot masquerading as lovers of the masses during electioneering.”
Spokesperson of the group, Akinbode Olaniyi told journalists that “silence or consent of the so-called progressive governors makes them culpable and anti-people.”
While the protest raged, policemen mingled with the protesters, telling them how to make success of the march, just as they assured them of their support.
The fuel subsidy removal has led to an increase in prices of commodities across the state. Yesterday, some commuters were force to abandon their journey when confronted with an almost 300 percent increment in transport fares.
Sachets water has risen to N10 from the original N5 and motorists charge fares for intra-city commuting.
Olaniyi also hit out at the inactivity of the Ogun State Chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), wondering why the union was complacent to mobilise in the mobilizing for the protest as has happened in other places.
Meanwhile, government workers at the Oke-Mosan Governor’s Office defied the Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s order to resume early at work as some of them did not get to the office by 8:15 am yesterday.
A majority of them were stranded at the Kuto bus stop, along the Presidential Boulevard leading to the governor’s office, with the long vehicles provided by government to convey workers nowhere in sight.
At the Governor’s Office, at exactly 8:20am, mechanics were seen battling with the only workers’ vehicles at their new parking bay at the frontage of the new secretariat.