22nd April, 2014
Kazeem Ugbodaga
Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola has called for nationwide mass protest against Islamic terrorists, Boko Haram over the recent abduction of 234 schoolgirls.
The girls were taken hostage from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, Northeast Nigeria.
Aregbesola spoke at the public presentation of a book “Giants of History (The Making of Our World)” written the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Aderemi Ibirogba.
The event was held at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria on Tuesday.
Describing the abduction as a national disaster, the governor said there was need by all Nigerians to rise up against the abduction of innocent citizens, lamenting that it was sad that one week after the abduction, Nigerians moved on as if nothing had happened.
“I don’t even know what to say than to urge everybody to do anything humanly possible collectively and individually to put an end to this sad development. The Federal Government must rise up to this challenge. Everyone in authority must act now. It is not only degrading us as a people, it is defaming us.
“As horrible as Afghanistan is we never read about people being abducted. We talk of no man’s land of West Afghanistan, such does not happen. Nigeria is heading to the level that does not recognize us as civilised people and human beings anymore and it is a shame.
“I should not have said this here considering my position in the polity but what is my choice? When school children are being abducted in schools and we carry on as if it is mere statistics. It is not. We must protest on the streets to tell all of us that enough is enough,” he said.
He also faulted the title being accorded political office holders, such as “Your Excellency,” describing them as unconstitutional and should be discarded.
“For public office holders who got their mandate on popular electoral mandate, it is totally paradoxical to refer to them as Your Excellency. Where? This makes no sense but people just carry on and on. In Republican America, it is abnormal to refer to the president as Your Excellency. He is called Mr. President,” he said.
On the book, Aregbesola said the youths would find the book useful as it would serve as inspiration to them.
Speaking, Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State commended the author for finding time to write the book, urging other public office holders to document their experience in public service to fill the dearth of literatures on public service in Nigeria.