Don’t stretch citizens’ patience, Ekiti elders tell FG

The Ekiti Council of Elders on Wednesday expressed concern over the hardship Nigerians are facing over naira and fuel scarcity, advising that the Federal Government should urgently move to redress the situation.

The council’s president, Prof. Joseph Oluwasanmi and its general secretary, Elder Niyi Ajibulu said the discordant tunes from different government authorities on the lingering currency swap and fuel shortages are ill winds blowing the masses no good.

Oluwasanmi and Ajibulu, in a press statement at the end of the council’s executive meeting, said, “The federal government is strongly urged to, as a matter of urgency, put its acts together towards mitigating the unbearable hardship Nigerian citizens are currently facing”.

The elders, who noted “Nigerians are resilient, displaying understanding and faith in the ongoing political dispensation,” advised that citizens’ patience should not be stretched to a snapping level that may result in total breakdown of law and order.

“Unfortunately, some pockets of violent protests resulting in loss of innocent lives and properties had occurred in some parts of the country. The Council of Elders is appealing for more understanding on the part of the populace while the government is putting machineries in place to bring succour on the currency and petroleum problems,” they said in the statement.

They also admonished the federal government to ensure that the electoral processes for the general elections were not truncated under any guise what-so-ever for the survival of the country.

The elders, however, lauded the philanthropic spirit of Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN, who donated a complex to the state High Court, Ikere Ekiti, to aid justice delivery processes in Ekiti State.

The council also praised other Ekiti sons and daughters who had been contributing to the progress and growth of the state in various ways, admonishing all “to always consider how they can impact individually or in groups on the betterment of the state”.