By DAPO FALADE
President Muhammadu Buhari has been urged to listen to the growing voices of the youths by commencing the process of either reforming or restructuring the system to safe the country from an imminent revolution.
Renown philanthropist, custodian of African culture and tradition, Madam Tinuade Mabel Onaneye, the Erelu Oodua of Aye Kingdom, gave the advice in an open letter addressed to the president.
Erelu Onaneye, in the letter entitled “Reform, Restructure or Resign”, also blamed the president for the prolonged ongoing #EndSARS protest across the country and warned him to act fast before the mass protest degenerat into the much dreaded revolution.
Writing from her base in Texas, the United States of America (USA), she said the dissolution and replacement of the defunct SARS with SWAT means a continuation of the same problem with a different name.
She therefore warned President Buhari against what she said is an imminent revolution, declaring that “the moment Nigerian leaders fear so much has finally arrived and that there is nothing any of them could do about it.
“Nigerian leaders who have always behaved like Nigerians don’t amount to anything are beginning to realise thay the masses are no longer the fools and slaves they have been taking them to be. Unfortunately, they are unable to see the handwriting on the wall.
“In same vein, I would not be surprised if President Buhari takes the protest as the handiwork of a few rabble-rousers or, at the very worst, opposition elements. It is pathetic and the reality is staring right at them and borrowing from the words of our own Oonirisa, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, the youths are now fully awake.
“The protest is beyond #EndSARS and even though the president has switched from SARS to SWAT, it still basically amount to renaming same problem instead of solving it.”
Erelu Onaneye declared that the protest is a movement for the soul of Nigeria, adding that the masses are, in addition to #EndSARS, demanding for a systemic overhaul of governance and institutional reforms as the barest minimum.
She said judging from reports on where, for instance, a governor was asked to come down from his long convoy before he could pass the roadblocks mounted by angry youths and few other instances, revolution is very near than expected and, except the president act fast, the unexpected might happen.
Recalled that in some of her past press statements, Erelu Onaneye has been lamenting the poor state of things in the country, just as she believed that the increasing level of poverty among the masses was caused by the President Buhari-led administration.
She had expressed worry over how governments at all level treat the masses like some pieces of cabbage and warned that the masses might fight back if they are pushed to the wall.
She expressed the hope that the president would dialogue with the protesting youths to calm the situation, adding: “If President Buhari can negotiate with terrorists, he can as well negotiate with peaceful protesters.”
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