A traditional rule in Cross River State, HRM Prof. Itam Hogan, has warned the political elite to guard against another spontaneous unrest akin to the EndSARS protests, saying it could be bloodier.
The traditional ruler spoke during a courtesy visit by the former governor, Senator Liyel Imoke, National Assembly members and major political stakeholder in the state, regretting that Nigerian youths are hungry, angry and feel abandoned by the government.
Prof Itam, however, condemned the looting and wanton destruction in parts of Calabar and other LGAs in the State, arguing that the youths felt neglected by political leaders.
He said: “The EndSARS protest was just a key that opened the Pandora box that culminated into violent crimes like arson, vandalism and so on. If we are not careful it would be bloodier, as they will come after us and they will go from house to house next time. We will not be able to walk on the streets. When you drive your big Jeeps, many of our children feel bad and they hate you.
“They feel that way because they think you are using their money to buy the Jeeps and from what I gathered, many of them who caused the violence are people between 18 and 35 years of age.
“If our schools were also open, I don’t think that the huge number of people who were on our streets would have had the time to do so because they would be in school busy with work and other things.
“The ball is now in the court of the politicians; we are equally scared.
“I want to further appeal that whenever you make promises, make sure they are fulfilled in a transparent manner and be truthful when you mention figures.
“There have been a lot of failed promises and this has angered the young people really deeply and many politicians forget they are from communities; our people are really hungry.”
Sen. Imoke appealed to the traditional institution and leaders to assist by engaging the youths, saying that dialogue is the only platform that can drive a peaceful resolution and create an atmosphere for growth and development to thrive.
He said: “I know it is very challenging but it behoves on us to dialogue with the youths. The reaction in Cross River is a great concern for us; if we don’t dialogue we cannot move forward.
“Please, you have to kick start action towards peaceful resolution. As traditional leaders, you are the bridge builders. I also want to say that the population of youths we saw on the streets may not represent all our youths.
“If you look at Calabar, the population might be about one million. If about 5,000 youths came out to cause this kind of destruction it doesn’t represent the whole of them because there are over 200,000 of them who don’t support the devastation that happened.
“We must be able to distinguish between the miscreants and the youths, and we must be able to also convert the miscreants into responsible young people. Dialogue must be constant with the youths both traditional and political leaders must take action now,” Imoke said.