Over the weekend, Omoyele Sowore, convener of the Take It Back movement visited North Eastern states as part of his nationwide Town Hall sessions.
He was received by enthusiastic supporters, who have taken to calling him “Sai Bobo,” in recognition of his boundless energy and youthful vigour.
Sowore brought a message of peace and security to this beleaguered part of Nigeria that has been battered by the Boko Haram crisis.
He declared that the first duty of any government was to create a country that is safe for all. He reminded audiences across the North East that he had served in the region as a Youth Corper in 1996.
He also toured IDP camps where he pledged to the gathered internally displaced persons, who are refugees in their own country, that the first priority of his government would be to get them back to their homes and loved ones. He pledged that the government he would lead would help them rebuild their homes if they have been destroyed. He also pledged that those who had farms would be aided with small loans for fertilizer and seed materials, to get them back on their feet.
Sowore noted that regardless of our religion and creed, we are all one united people. He observed that while the political class has used religion, hunger and ethnicity to divide us, over there [in Abuja], they have no religion. Their only religion is GREED. He noted that “even the flat-stomached ones amongst them send their children to school abroad, while your own children may never see the inside of a school because of the Boko Haram crisis.”
He pledged that his government would work to SECURE the North East, and that education would be prioritised through increased resources and security.
He reminded the audience that during election season, these Abuja politicians who had done nothing to address their concerns would come calling with bribes of food and money, and after getting what they want, no one would hear from them for the next four years. He declared that he had come to them with nothing but a sacred pledge that within a year of his being in office, they would be on their way back to their homes.
Sowore told audiences across the town halls and IDP camps that they had the power to change things by using their PVCs to vote for men and women of integrity and courage.
Rachel Onamusi–Kpiasi
Director PR and Communications
TakeitBack Movement