Former governor of Calabar, Donald Duke has begged hoodlums and the people of Calabar to forgive him and stop looting, and destroying both private and government properties around state.
The governor who was seen walking around the streets and appeasing the youths to stop looting and destroying properties belonging to the elite.
Mr Donald Duke in a statement while speaking to Newsmen said that Nigerian youths have been overlooked and left with no hopes due to the wrong leadership in the country.
“We often want to blame these happenings on criminals and miscreants, but they are no such people, we created them, they are human beings.
“I find it deplorable when people regard others as miscreants. They are our children. If you don’t provide for them, train them and give them hope, they will take laws into their hands; but the point is we need to rise up and correct these things.
“We must mean what we say and say what we mean. When the youths feel that your words are empty statements, they won’t take you seriously anymore,” he said.
Noting the tragic incident that occurred in Calabar should happen again in Calabar, then the state is “finished”.
”The youths have been bruised and we need to address that and heal their scars. My desire is to reach out to them, speak to them and ask for forgiveness; so that we can forgive them too and create a better society.
“We love Cross River, the soonest we come out, we will encourage others to do the same. We need the support of everyone to do this. We should encourage the government to succeed, regardless of what we think.
“Some of the protesters are idle, if they are employed, they won’t be on the streets. You can’t say you have a right to life without given a right to livelihood.
“You know it’s really bad when You dehumanize a Human Being to the point where He has to steal a toilet, When you see someone carting away a used toilet base, you should know there is a big problem. We need to help our young people to succeed. We need to educate, equip and sustain them,” he said.