A coalition of Civil society organizations on Thursday, January 19 embarked on a peaceful procession around the streets of Lagos to rally support for the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The peaceful procession, tagged "A One Million Man Rally for President Muhammadu Buhari", organized by Stand Up for Nigeria (SUN), caused heavy traffic around old Toll Gate and Ojota axis where it was held.
The protesters carried placards with different inscriptions such: "Buhari is here to restore Nigeria's economy; The looters of yesterday are regrouping to to stampede our nation's progress", among others.
South-West Coordinator of SUN, Comrade John Blessing insisted that the current economic recession was not the making of Buhari yet he is making efforts to redeem the situation.
He said, "The economic recession is real. The fall in the value of the naira is real. Inflation that has taken away the purchasing power of Nigerians is real. But these are not the only real things we know in this country. The looting of public treasury by previous administrations is real. The neglect of critical infrastructures by previous leaders is real. The failure to diversify the economy from being dependent on crude oil is real.
"There are more things that are real as well. The sabotage of oil and gas installations by sponsored militants is real. Economic sabotage to frustrate the intervention of the current government is real. The fight back by corruption against the anti-graft war is real. Scheming to block Nigerians from enjoying the gains of reforms being implemented by this government is real. Political Boko Haramists sponsoring terrorism is real".
He took a swipe on the UAD protesters, saying they failed to consider the various realities on ground before accusing President Buhari of inflicting hardship on Nigerians.
According to him, the focus of Nigerians and the UAD protesters should be to support Buhari in his anti-corruption fight, economic diversification, the Made in Nigeria initiative, among others.
John said Buhari had impacted on Nigerians through the recently launched Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) which has started paying N5000 to poor households.
"His government has not left out the unemployed youth who are now getting monthly stipends of N30,000 while they have matched with work places where they will acquire skills and experiences for future jobs. 200,000 youths are part of the first batch while more is to follow", he said.
The Coordinator added that the President had equally recorded unexpected feat in the fight against terrorism with the dislodgement of Boko Haram terrorists.
"The funds stolen under those governments that gave 'rosy' economy are being recovered. The sums involved are mind boggling. The impunity with which the theft was done, confounding. But for the first time we have a large chunk of the budget being financed with recovered loots. Today, Nigeria is no longer regarded as "fantastically corrupt".
"This progress was possible thanks to President Buhari's doggedness and the political will to do the right things. In our various cultures we have sayings that gratitude begets more goodwill. This is why we are here today, one million Nigerians, on the street to endorse the actions of Mr. President, give him our vote of confidence and assure him that he has our support to do more", he added.
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