After three days of sit-out at the National Assembly main gate, the group said on Thursday that it would bring down its tents and evacuate the premises on Friday morning.
At a press briefing on Thursday night, the movement highlighted its achievements, demands and plans for the future.
The convener of the group, Bunmi Awoyemi insisted that the protest was ending on a good note for all Nigerians.
He said, “This is the first time in the history of Nigeria that Nigerians from all walks of life were able to galvanise each other to come to Abuja to shut down the National Assembly, we succeeded in sending a very strong message that Nigerians will no longer be taking for a ride.”
The group debunked suggestions that the protest was against the embattled Senate President, who is under pressure to step down from office as he faces corruption trial.
The OccupyNASS maintained that Saraki was only the symptom of the entire rot in the National Assembly.
The group said, “As we have said since the beginning of this protest, it’s not about Saraki. The aim of this protest is not to get Bukola Saraki to resign because he’s a symptom of the entire rot in the legislature, the aim of this project is to achieve fundamental reforms.”
It also dismissed claims of being paid to move against the nation’s legislature, stressing that its activities were fully funded by Nigerians who were sympathetic to the movement’s cause.
“From day one, when Nigerians said they’re interested in occupying the National Assembly, contributions started coming in. Nigerians started asking for the account of the movement.”
“Five thousand, ten thousand, one hundred thousand and even one million. A Nigerian, sitting amongst you today, donated ₦1 million to this protest. From U.S., from U.K., people were contributing to this movement. We were averaging ₦400,000 every day.”
The group said the move to occupy the National Assembly became imperative due to a series of missteps by lawmakers.
“The National Assembly was trying to amend the law in order to escape justice. Some of them even said making laws that will further balance gender issues will make women turn to prostitutes.”
The group further claimed that the lawmakers are responsible for the ongoing budget impasse between them and President Muhammadu Buhari.
“We know the president sent a terrible budget, but they (lawmakers) took this terrible budget, mutilated it, destroyed it, pounded it, separated it and pocketed it.”
The group highlighted areas it believed the protest had been “resoundingly successful”, and acknowledged that its agitation was greeted by the overwhelming support from Nigerians on the Internet.
“When the movement of OccupyNass started, there were issues that were related to the amendment of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Code of Conduct Tribunal Act and the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, it was when this movement took off that they took those controversial bills down.
“We succeeded in sending a very strong message that Nigerians will no longer be taking for a ride.”
Source
No comments:
Post a Comment