The Olubadan of Ibadan land, Saliu Adetunji, has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately address the citizens.
He urged Buhari to address Nigerians in a bid to douse the tension in the country.
Oba Adetunji, who described the situation in the country as ‘very tough’ and ‘most unbearable’, said that Buhari has the capacity to speak to the citizens in order to douse the tension.
He said,”The experience of our people over the past two weeks is “very tough” and “most unbearable.
“I believe that only a democratically elected President of Nigeria has the capacity to address the demands of the protesters and possibly put paid to prolonged protest.”
The monarch, in a statement made available to newsmen on Wednesday, through his Director of Media and Publicity, Adeola Oloko, contended that any other individual other than the President would only be scratching the matter on the surface.
“As the father of the nation, with avowed commitment to protect lives and properties, including recovering (the) economy, it has become imperative for the President to speak to Nigerians especially, the protesting youths.
“I regretted that thugs and hoodlums, who do not understand the significance of the protests, are taking undue advantage to cause mayhem and extortion.
“The Olubadan also urged the youths to embrace dialogue as experience has shown that jaw-jaw is better than war-war.
“People in government are not living in gilded cage(s) and therefore could not have been irresponsive to the yearnings and aspirations of the people, as speculated in some quarters.
“Part of the solution lies in (the) reopening of all the universities shut in the wake of (the) ASUU strike over the past six months”.
Oba Adetunji, while commending the federal government for introducing different empowerment programmes like SURE-P, You-Win, N-Power and SPW, urged governments at all levels to focus more on training and retraining of the youth to become useful and fit for purpose as institutions’ curriculum have fallen short of employers’ expectations.
He prayed to God to give the youth the grace to become what God wants them to be
