Mar. 10, 2014
The Anti-Corruption Network (ACN), led by former federal legislator Dino Melaye, is organizing what it described as “the mother of all protests” against the Petroleum Resources Minister, Allison Deziani Madueke and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), over the missing $20billion and other issues.
In a statement signed by Mr. Melaye, ACN said it would no longer keep quiet over issues that concern the Nigerian people and may destroy their future.
“Police and other security agencies should be ready to arrest, intimidate, harass, shoot and tear gas and maltreat us,” the statement said. “Nigerians should not be taken for granted. The time for change is now!”
It stressed that corruption is the bane of Nigeria’s development and that ACN will fight it, warning that in an unjust society, silence is a crime.
“Through this protest we will prove that power truly belong to the people and will call the attention of the world on Nigeria. We have no other country to call our own but Nigeria. We will not allow bigots and power usurpers to destroy our God given country.”
The group noted that unprecedented mobilization for the protest is ongoing and that a date and time will soon be circulated.
“No one can stop a moving train. We shall and must salvage our fatherland even with our blood. We will prove that though tribe and tongue may differ but in brotherhood we stand,” it said in the language of Nigeria’s original national anthem. “We shall surely overcome the forces of evil.”