Sack the ‘grass cutter’, former NHRC chairman Chidi Odinkalu chants at #OneVoiceNigeria protest (photos)
The former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Chidi Odinkalu has called for the sack of the secretary of the government for the federation Babachir Lawal.
During the nationwide rally tagged: #IStandWithNigeria and #OneVoiceNigeria, the former NHRC chairman said the present administration came into power to fight corruption and not shield it.
While the protested chanted “I stand with Nigeria”, Odinkalu replied with ‘sack the grass cutter’, leading a similar chorus from the protesting crowd.
“This administration came into power to fight corruption and now, next to the president is the man now known as the grass cutter general of the federation.”
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Babachir is popularly known as the ‘grass cutter’ after he was enmeshed in a N200 million grass cutting contract for internally displaced camps in the North-East.
Odinkalu speaking on the level of governance portrayed by the present administration said: “We thumbed Buhari into office in 2015 because he promised to do a lot, then he got into power and he has never addressed us. When he wants to talk to us he gets into a plane travels abroad and starts gossiping about us.
“Are we so useless that our president cannot address us? Are we so idiotic that our president cannot tell us that things are hard? We don’t get answers, we don’t get empathy and we are told we cannot protest too? What kind of country is that? What kind of citizens are we?" Odinkalu asked.
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“Who are we to be told we can only protest if police licensed us. We have the right to protest.
“On this Monday morning we don’t know where our president is. We want to know because we care. On 18 January we were told that our president was going for a 10-day vacation. Yesterday we were told he is waiting for his medical test before he will return. Last week, fake pictures of the president meeting people in London emerged.
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“Last night, Femi Adesina said people can get sick; people can even die and Shehu Garba said he spoke with the president’s doctor and was told he is well. Now think about it, if the president is well, who is Shehu to speak to his doctor.
“If the president is not ill, why should people be circulating fake pictures. We don’t want the human rights of the president abused.
See photos from the protest in Abuja below: