Human rights defender and president of One Love Foundation, Chief Dr Patrick Osagie Eholor has come hard on Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State and his predecessor, Mr Adams Oshiomhole over the riots that took place in Benin yesterday.
Eholor, who criticised the riots, described it as unfortunate, especially with the wanton destruction of lives and property which he said was unnecessary.
He argued that Oshiomhole failed in his duties as a former governor, party chairman and Labour leader for calling for such a violent riots.
He also stated that Obaseki who called for his arrest is no better than Oshiomhole since both men failed in their duties as governors of Edo State.
He spoke to Jungle-Journalist.Com; “You saw what happened yesterday, its very unfortunate. A lot of people died, they didn’t have to die that. But they say that a hungry person is an angry person.
“Emefiele had a good policy but had bad implementation. Bulk of the blame goes to Emefiele, APC government and Buhari himself. Let us note that those who did what they did yesterday were not protesters, they were rioters. There is a difference between a protest and a riot.
“I have led a lot of protests across the country with my people, fellow comrades. We did something recently when were not too happy about the hike of petrol. Nobody died. Nobody has ever died, and nobody will die. So what you saw yesterday were people who were very bitter, who were very angry who were rioting.
“But the main issue here is Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole, a two-time governor of Edo State and Godwin Obaseki, who has failed for about 7 years, and who is the king of MoU. Obaseki has ordered that Oshiomhole be arrested for incitement.
“If you are well-behaved, a two-time governor and a former NLC president, will a governor ask the police to arrest you?
“You went to represent your paymaster, Asiwaju Tinubu in NLC where you were a president. You were booed and you were humiliated. You wore a red robe as a governor, and at a place you were a president, you were booed and you were humiliated. Adams Oshiomhole, Adams Oshiomhole, when are you going to know that , when the ovation is loudest, you leave? Go and sit at home and respect yourself.
“Nobody wants to listen to your nonsense again. When you left office, you gave a lot of lands to your friends and looted treasury. What do you want from the people again? Nobody wants you again. I can assure you that if your people are educated and smart enough, you wont win that senatorial seat because you are not even qualified to win a local government election.
“It was a mistake to have you as a governor because if anyone is governing us, until that person leaves, nobody will know what they have doing wrong. We have assessed you and you are a failure, and that has given the room to somebody who also failed abysmally to declare you wanted my the police. It is a shame.
“Those who went to protest were not protesters, they were rioters, and they went on rampage. We have the fundamental human right to protest. Besides, the Americans in the 60s and 70s were racists against the black man and won’t share the same space with the black man. But the likes of Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, they were all involved in protests. When you protest, you hold your hands in chains and carry placards. The police and militarily are not crazy, they wont shoot you. But if you have machetes, planks, bottles, there is no placards and so no message, they will shoot you. You want to burn workers in the banks, you want to kill workers inside the bank, the police has a job to do. That is why they used live ammunition, which, I do not accept. I hope it doesn’t happen again, I also hope the police and military should start using rubber bullets or teasers.
“There are too many killings. We don’t want it again. We don’t want the military to die, we don’t want the police to die, we don’t want our citizens to die, so we must use dialogue to approach these issues.
“Those who are burning and looting, if you burn all the banks, how do you get your money back? Common sense. Stop burning the banks.if any politician is using you, tell them to bring their children to the front lines. I can guarantee you that most of these politicians, their children are not here. Even Oshiomhole. I know where they are. You should stop it. Your lives are as valuable as the lives of Tinubu, Atiku, Peter Obi and the rest of them. The politicians are our problems, they have been our problems. We hope the narrative changes.
“For our president, Muhammadu Buhari, I want to say, thank you for all the destruction you brought with your party. You have failed to kill corruption that you promised to kill. You have refused to give us the names of those who plunged this country into destruction. You have hidden them because of favouritism, tribalism and nepotism, which is the reason our country is mired in corruption.
“If there is anything below zero, that is what you have scored”, Eholor said.