Charly Boy, others protest secrecy of National Assembly’s budget

Charles Oputa (aka Charly Boy) led hundreds of protesters to the National Assembly yesterday to demand public disclosure of the budget of the Federal lawmakers.

The protesters also demanded that immunity from criminal procedure against the President, Vice President, governors and deputy governors be removed from the constitutional.

Besides, the protesters, under the aegis of Office of the Citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, backed the anti-corruption crusade of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

It insisted that all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), including the Legislature and the Judiciary, be subjected to the Treasury Single Account (TSA) to curb wastages and corruption in government.

To reduce the burden of governance, the protesters said the Senate be scrapped with the controversial constituency intervention projects.
Charly Boy, who said corruption had robbed Nigerian youths of their future, noted that death penalty should be introduced to check corrupt public office holders.

The entertainer assured that his group would not relent in protesting what he called the gross injustice against Nigerian youths until positive commitments were obtained from the lawmakers.

He said: “I was happy that some youths are doing what young people should do. I am just here to encourage them to take their rightful place in the society.

“I have also advised them on the need to go back to the drawing board and come out massively because this is a cause for the few men and women of integrity left in Nigeria to come and speak out against this oppression.

“I see that most of the youths these days are just handicapped by the great poverty, unemployment and uncertainty of tomorrow. This is because we have a government that does not work; we have a government that cannot arrest corruption.

“I am here to encourage them because when next we come here, the whole place will be filled up. This is a movement. I am telling young Nigerians that if they do not do something about their future, their future has been stolen.

“So, if you don’t fight to retrieve it, you will die for nothing in this country. There will be nothing for you, if you don’t agitate.

“I am here to encourage that culture of agitation, the culture of standing up for your bloody rights because nothing will change until you do so.”