Oshiomhole, Graham-Douglas oppose call to scrap NYSC

Guardian

25 May 2011

Oshiomhole, Graham-Douglas oppose call to scrap NYSC

EDO State Governor Adams Oshiomhole and former Minister of Aviation, Alabo Toney Graham-Douglas have opposed those calling for the abolition of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) as a result of the post-election violence that erupted in some parts of the country where corps members were killed.

Oshiomhole, however, called on Nigerians to await the report of the investigative panel set up by President Goodluck Jonathan to know the cause of the violence.

In an interview with The Guardian in his office yesterday, Oshiomhole said the killings could not be said to be protests, saying: “My thesis is that you cannot confuse mass murder, mass killings, and mass arson for protests.”

But he insisted that it was not enough to scrap the scheme which was set up for national integration.

“That is not protest. I have led so many protests in every part of Nigeria in Kano, Maiduguri, Lagos, Edo, Enugu, Port Harcourt and in Kano State. We mobilised over a million people over fuel price. We marched them over sensitive parts of Kano from the Airport through Fege all the way down to Government House, nobody was harassed, nobody was victimised, that is a legitimate protest. So killing of people, in my view is murder and not protest . An enquiry has been set up, we will find out what was the motive, what was behind it and it was just pure criminality.”