Pastor Azemhe Azena, the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, candidate for the September 21, 2024 governorship election in Edo State, on Monday joined members of civil society organizations in the state to protest against the current economic hardship in Nigeria.
Azemhe, who is the Pastor of Omega Fire Ministry, Benin City, said the high cost of living in the country is getting out of hand.
He, however, urged government at all levels to do everything possible to address the cost of living crisis.
The NNPP governorship candidate, opined that clergymen are the worst hit of the cost of living crisis in the country due to pressure of demands by congregants.
He said,”I am a pastor, I can feel it in the faces of my congregation. The load is becoming too much on the clergy and religious men because they need to pay people’s school fees. Some you need to feed them; some you need to transport them; some you need to pay their hospital bills.
“Sometimes, these bills are really affecting us. Hunger is biting harder in our country. People are suffering. This is more than suffering. This is “sufferer”.
“We meet these people daily but government does meet them daily.
Government only meet them during election. We are the ones facing it, we are the ones bearing the pains.
“To prevent anger, crime, violence in the society, you have to attend to hunger. The prices of things are going up in Nigeria per hour.
“We are here to draw the attention of the government to the state of the economy in the entire country. That they should do something fast because a hungry man is an angry man.
“So, we are here to say that local, state and federal governments should look into the high prices of goods and services with a view to addressing the situation.”
He advocated the implementation of price control, to enable the people afford food items.
Earlier, Leftist Austine Enabulele, the Interim chairman Edo Civil Society Organizations, EDOCSO, handed down a 14-day-ultimatum to President Bola Tinubu and his Vice Kashim Shettima to resign from office if they cannot fix the nation’s economy.
Enabulele, who also decried the dollarization of the Nigerian economy, urged government to urgently add value to the nation’s currency.
“We cannot be living our lives in dollars. You want to buy something in the market they will tell you that dollar has increased. You want to buy common pumpkin leaves, they will say dollar has increased.
“We are using Naira and they must give value to our Naira. If he can’t fix the problems, he should resign.”
The protest grounded economic activities in the city centre, as the protesters marched through major roads and streets in Benin City.
They also brandished placards with various inscriptions such as, ‘Nigerians are starving to death’, ‘Tinubu, end hunger and suffering in Nigeria’, ‘FG, end the hunger in Nigeria now’, ‘Tinubu, let Nigerians breath’, among others.
