* Seeks establishment of price control board/committee

* Condemns Plateau massacre

Stephen Olufemi Oni, Ilorin

The National President of Oodua Progressive Care Initiative (OPCI), Chief (Dr.) Maruff Olarewaju, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to assiduously work towards putting an end to the untold hardship, pain and suffering Nigerians are currently passing through due to the unprecedented high inflation ravaging the country by putting in place proactive measures to arrest the ugly situation.

OPCI National President made the call in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital, at the end of the year programme of the organisation organised by its Kwara State Chapter.

He said: “The truth must be told, Mr President sir, Nigerians are seriously complaining, we are facing immeasurable hardship. JAPA is now the vogue and order of the day, people are running out of their father’s land and turning themselves into slavery in countries like Canada, UK, USA, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirate, South Africa, Italy, France etc. Your Excellency, something meaningful must be put in motion to arrest this ugly and unsavoury situation.

“As a leader of an Organisation, spread across Nigeria, I can not turn a deaf ear to the noise of our people on the unprecedented high costs of daily needs. I hereby suggest to you Mr President to introduce price control board or committee to regulate prices of goods. I can remember vividly that during Buhari and Idiagbon regime between 1983-1985, price control was introduced which gave us meaningful results.”

Dr. Olarewaju described as callous, outrageous, reprehensible and condemnable the unwarranted massacre of hundreds of innocent civilians by yet-to-be-identified gunmen in Plateau state, saying it is one attack too many.

“The issue of insecurity is another horrible thing. In any developed, developing or underdeveloped country, the security of lives and property must be a priority for the government for meaningful progress and development to take place. In Nigeria, prided as the giant of Africa and the most populous black-race-country in the whole world, issues of security should not and can not be taken with levity.

“What we are witnessing today, especially what happened in Plateau state recently where hundreds of people lost their lives to unknown blood-thirsty gunmen is highly condemnable when we are not at war. Even in the current Israel/Gaza war, such high death tolls were not recorded on daily basis.

“The Federal Government of Nigeria led by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu should as a matter of urgency find a permanent solution to the killings and shedding of the blood of innocent of Nigerians. President should note that development cannot thrive in an atmosphere of anarchy, violence, killings and disturbances. Nigeria also needs peace and tranquility for the economy to thrive and so everything should be done to restore peace permanently in the country.

“I also call on the federal government and all the law enforcement agencies to beam their search lights on some outlawed and illegal organisations parading themselves as Messiahs under the guise of the promotion of culture and seeing themselves as above the law. We all know that Nigerians are very good at copycats, that’s the more reason we are calling on the federal government to stop all these epileptic organisations from their barbaric killings of innocents people before others emulate them.”

The OPCI boss reiterated that his organisation, OPCI, is one that believes in the rules of law, and operates under it, as demonstrated during the last general elections in the country “when some intruders and enemies of Nigeria’s unity planned to truncate our democracy and turn Nigeria into a state of anarchy by calling for an interim government”, adding that his
organisation led the voices of other groups to condemn in strong terms the obnoxious plan and stood up firmly to fight for the democracy and unity of Nigeria.

Notwithstanding the upheavals, Dr. Olarewaju reiterated his organisation’s belief in the capacity and ability of President Tinubu to lead the country out of its socio-economic, political and security quagmires, urging Nigerians to continue to support the administration as it tries to fix things.

He said: “Tinubu as the Nigerian President, we have the confidence in him that he is able to turn things around, he has started the good work since his assumption of office on May 29, 2023, he has put sound and courageous people in strategic positions in order to drive the Nigerian vehicle to the glorious land.”

The highlight of the occasion was the uplifting and ranking of 12 members of the OPCI for being
“loyal, trustworthy, reliable, competent and dedicated members of our organisation.