A former Niger Delta freedom fighter and South south coordinator of the Asiwaju Group, Pastor Reuben Wilson, has urged President Bola Tinubu to take urgent steps to address the biting hunger in the country.
Wilson said in an interview that the country was currently bleeding.
He suggested that it would take the experience and expertise of an economic surgeon like Tinubu to address the issue and bring the country back to the days of glory.
Saying that Tinubu was currently on course, one year into his government, Wilson, who is also the national president of the Leadership, Peace and Cultural Development Initiative, however lamented that there was so much hunger in the land.
He said there was an urgent need for the cost of goods, especially food items, to be brought down so that Nigerians do no die in droves as a result of hunger. He said the president needed the support and prayers of all Nigerians to be able to turn things around.
“The most important thing right now that people are talking about is how Mr. President can stabilize things, especially the stomach infrastructure level. The thing is really, really hard that people cannot afford food to eat again.
“I am saying this because I witnessed it live. I went to market two weeks ago to buy things myself because my wife always complains that things are too expensive; I said let me go and witness things myself and I went to market with N300,000. I could not get much from the market. My PA said ‘Oga the money has gone’. I said yes o, we have not got anything, he said yes the money has gone. So people are dying, people are suffering. So there is a need, serious need for Mr. President to look into this aspect because the cost of things in Nigeria has now increased in ten places.
“Mr. President should look into this; he should see how he can stabilize the economy of this country so that the common people, the masses will not regret voting him into power. But for now, people are dying. Mr. President will not understand, the people in Abuja; the senators will not understand. The House of Reps members will not understand, those in the villa will not understand what people are going through. You can only understand what is going on when you go to the market. Go to the market yourself, if you enter yourself, then you know that kaki no be leather.”
He said people like him who worked tirelessly to secure victory for Tinubu during the election should forget clamour for appointments and rather join hands to see how the president can make the masses happy.
According to him, “the most important thing here is how Mr. President can do something about the cost of things. If we continue this way, believe me, there are people that will sleep and they will not wake up because of stomach infrastructure. Because of hunger, they will sleep and won’t be able to stand up the next morning.
“A friend of mine was telling me something yesterday and I felt really sad, I nearly shed tears. According to that my friend, he said he went out but when he returned home around 9 o’clock, someone was knocking at his door. When he opened the door, the person was saying ‘please I need garri if you have, even if it’s two cups, let me manage with my family; that he was not having anything for his family to eat. But he entered his house and asked his wife that please, ‘do we have garri here’, the wife said yes, but very little. He said please bring it out. He now gave to the man. He managed to also give the guy N5,000.
“If I open my phone, you will see messages of people; ‘please can you help me with N2,000 let me buy garri, people are asking for N1,000, people are begging. That is what Nigerians are going through. Mr. President is a good man, we believe in him and we know he can do it. Like me, Reuben C. Wilson, I believe in him.
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“That was why I took up his cross on my head. The whole South South states, there is no state that I did not touch with my people, no state that I did not spend millions for his campaign and election. In fact, during flood, we were soaked inside the flood waters from Ahoada to Yenagoa. My people were inside water because of him. But today, I am not talking about appointment.
“The major thing that we want Mr. President to handle is the economy; the cost of things. We really need changes in that aspect so that people can feel his impact, if not, I am telling you, we don’t know where we are going and I know Mr. President is capable of fixing things so that Nigerians can smile again.”
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