Governor Alex Otti of Abia State has again expressed the fears that the planned national protest may turn to violence, which may consume the poor, week and vulnerable people in the society.
Otti, who said this during a Tuesday morning broadcast to Abia people, appealed to traditional rulers, leaders of religious organizations and other community leaders to advise their people against taking to violence.
The governor, who advised Abians youths to exercise restraint and engage leaders with chater of demands, assured his administration will do everything to protect the people from harm and destruction.
He acknowledged that Nigerians have the right to demonstrate against bad conditions but expressed concern that any good intentions of the original organizers of the national protest may be be eroded if fifth columnists and hoodlums hijack the protest to cause mayhem.
Governor Otti, who said that his administration has invested in infrastructure in Aba and Umuahia, noted that such infrastructure should be protected from being destroyed by those who may want to hijack the protest in the state to cause mayhem.
He said that what Abia needs is high sense of peace and sustained development and not chaos .
The governor said that some economic policies of the federal government, including the removal of fuel subsidy, may not have yet yielded the ultimately desired results as initially intended by the federal government, but appealed to the youths to apply peaceful means of achieving their agitations than resorting to violence.
Otti further said that Abia state civil servants have been paid the April tranche of the Wage Award, as promised by his administration among other fulfillments and therefore pleaded with Abia people to shun violence.
