The Olubadan of Ibadan land, Oba Saliu Akanmu Adetunji, has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately address Nigerians on the ongoing nationwide protest against police brutality.
Oba Adetunji said that the need to address Nigerians is necessary in order to douse the tension in the country.
The monarch described the experience of Nigerians over the past two weeks as “very tough” and “most unbearable”
He said that Buhari as a democratically elected President of Nigeria has the capacity to address the demands of the protesters and possibly put paid to prolonged protest.
Oba Adetunji in a statement made available to DAILY POST on Wednesday, contended that any other individual other than the President would only be scratching the matter on the surface.
He said, “As the father of the nation with avowed commitment to protect lives and properties, including recovering the economy, it has become imperative for the President to speak to Nigerians especially, the protesting youths.”
He regretted that thugs and hoodlums who do not understand the significance of the protests are taking undue advantage to cause mayhem and extortion.
The Olubadan also urged the youths to embrace dialogue as experience has shown that jaw-jaw is better than war-war. According to him, people in government are not living in a gilded cage and therefore could not have been unresponsive to the yearnings and aspirations of the people, as speculated in some quarters.
He noted that part of the solution lies in reopening all the universities shut in the wake of ASUU strike over the past six months.
While commending the Federal Government for introducing different empowerment programmes like SURE-P, You-Win, N-Power and SPW, Oba Adetunji urged governments at all levels to focus more on training and retraining of our youths to become useful and fit for purpose as our institutions curricular have fallen short of employers’ expectations
Adetunji prayed to God to give our youths the grace to become what God wants them to be despite all odds.
