As the protest over fuel subsidy removal rages, many Nigerian entertainers who initially supported Goodluck Jonathan during his presidential campaign last year have eventually dumped him to his fate.
Top on the list of these entertainers is actor Desmond Elliot. He was one of the many Nollywood stars that endorsed Goodluck Jonathan months before the April 2011 polls.
Surprisingly, the same actor on Wednesday, made a U-turn on his support for the president, while speaking at the mass protest against the fuel subsidy removal, in Ojota, Lagos.
The baby-face actor said the action is not only meant to inflict untold hardship on the innocent masses but also, it is a harsh decision on the part of the government.
He took to his Twitter account to express his disappointment in the incumbent administration. He tweeted:
‘We have lost everything we met on the land. Cocoa, palm oil, groundnuts, cotton, cashew and rubber have been forgotten and are better produced by nations who came to learn from us. We have lost our moral compass, our society is fractured, our statehood is threatened.
“Our citizens are in all prisons around the world. Some of them prefer foreign prisons to coming back to Nigeria. Our passport is treated with disdain everywhere you present it. Why should our government be this big with special advisers on cassava and beans affairs.
Desmond Eliot...makes a u-turn
Do we need 36 ministers? Why would our president spend close to a billion on food while close to eighty percent live on less than a dollar a day? Why should he budget a billion for generators and diesel when he is urging us to believe in his power sector reform? Why should we believe the government when it says the subsidy gain will be properly reinvested. Bad leadership and coruption must stop.
Also Dickson Iroegbu who campaigned for Jonathan has equally dumped him. A notable film maker cum writer, Iroegbu last year relocated to Abuja, all in the bid to campaign for GEJ. “Goodluck for Nigeria” and “It’s Possible” was his slogans then.
Lending support to the President last year, Iroegbu said “like many actors, we have seen Jonathan improve by the day. I personally trust him. I can fight for him to shine like a star. He said he will ensure that no Nigerian goes to bed hungry, it is not about crying, he has started taking actions already.
Mr. President is in dire need of all of us to drive away the hawks in power, and as our leader, he has shown the right direction so far. A little benefit of doubt can solve the “Ifs” theory in film making. If he continues this way, then soon, very soon we shall be united.”
Ironically, speaking against the fuel subsidy removal, the notable film maker accused President Jonathan of being insensitive to the plight of the poor masses.
His words “I have said it before, it is an insensitive action. It is anti-masses. Personally, I don’t care what government thinks they are doing in the name of palliatives. First and foremost, government should go back to status quo. I feel aggrieved. I feel sad. This deceit must stop.”
This government is losing credibility too fast. The price of goods, transportation, medical, and everything else has skyrocketed. People who traveled to various places can’t return to base, we can go on and on. It is quite disheartening.
I am also suffering it. People have called me names I don’t deserve, just for supporting President Goodluck Jonathan.”
On his own, Segun Arinze urged the president to listen to the voice of the masses and do well to revert the fuel price. He faulted the government for not building trust in the Nigerian citizens before implementing such policy.
Arinze whose faction of the Actors Guild of Nigeria(AGN) recently organised a “Nollywood Roundtable on Deregulation” at Eko Hotel and Suites to drum support for the federal government on the removal of the controversial fuel subsidy was speaking at a television show monitored by HVP.
Other Nollywood stars who should bury their faces in shame included Francis Duru who co-ordinated Naija Artistes for Goodluck project with an umbrella body called Goodluck Campaign last year alongside Richard Ossai, veteran actor Olu Jacobs, Monalisa Chinda Ramsey Nuoah Susan Peters, Genevieve Nnaji, Ufuoma Ejenobor, Ngozi Nwosu, Nonso Diobi, Clem Ohameze and Femi Brainard.
Others are; Linc and Yul Edochie, Yemi Blaq, Mercy Aigbe, Ejike Asiegbu, Uche Iwuji, Chinyere Winifred, Uche Obodo, Emmanuella Njudigbo, Maureen Solomon, Tony Umez, Emeka Enyiocha, Benita Nzeribe and several top Northern based actors who trooped into the audio visual of the MSquad crew to shoot a video for a song, which was produced by Asuquo. Today, these entertainers are singing a different song.
