Bayelsans shun oil subsidy removal protest

Against the back-drop of mass action staged on Monday, by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress [TUC] and other industrial unions to kick against the removal of the oil subsidy nationwide, Bayelsans shunned entreaties by the civil society group to participate in the street protest.

Normal business activities resumed on Monday on the streets of Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa State as everybody went about their socio-economic activities, with private and commercial vehicles plying the streets, while markets opened for sales, ignoring the call to boycott the stay at home order.

Investigation conducted by the Nigerian Tribune revealed that leaders of the civil society groups, including the Civil Liberty Organisation [CLO], NLC and rights activists were disappointed as residents chose to stay at home instead of coming out in solidarity to participate in the nationwide protest aimed at denouncing the oil subsidy removal.

Some of the filling stations visited by our correspondent were busy selling fuel to cars and motorcycles at the rate of N140 or N145 per litre.

As a result of the development, civil society groups and their leaders, who had converged on Opolo, the take off point, in Yenagoa, as early as 7.00am had to relocate to the premises of the Nigeria Union of Journalists [NUJ], Bayelsa State chapter, on Ekeki, where they addressed a press conference, calling on the Federal Government to revert to the N65 per litre pump price of petrol.

Addressing the newsmen over issue, on behalf of the civil society groups,  the Vice Chairman of CLO in Bayelsa State, Mr Williams-Odonmini Flint, decried the decision of President Goodluck Jonathan to remove the oil subsidy, without considering its implications on the common man, in terms of arbitrary increase in the prices of goods and commodity.

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