Buhari, Lawan, Gbajabiamila Beg Youths to Stop #EndSARS Protests

 The leadership of the National Assembly has appealed to Nigerian youths to stop the ongoing protests against the scrapped Special Anti-Robbery Unit of the Nigeria Police Force. They said the government was working hard to meet all their demands.

The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan; and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila,  made the appeal after meeting the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Sunday.

The meeting it was gathered was to review the ongoing #EndSARS protests across  the country and to determine the quickest way to implement the protesters five-point demand.

Speaking to State House correspondents after the meeting, the Senate President, Dr. Lawan said the parley with the President was to decide on an expeditious manner to implement the demand.

He said it was a trying moment for the government and thanked the President for exhibiting great democratic credentials. The Senate President pointed out that the youth had made their legitimate demands and the government has listened. Lawan said:

“The essence of coming to meet Mr. President is to review the situation and see the role the two arms of government should play in ensuring that the five-point demands are properly addressed.

 “Where legislative intervention required, we are ready to move in and deal with such expeditiously to ensure that we don’t waste any time so that we address the concern of our youth.

“Where the Executive is expected, I’m sure the Executive will also expedite action. We will be watching to ensure that such demands are properly met.”

He said since they have made their point and government has accepted the issues they raised, it was time to end the protests to give room for implementation. Lawan stated that the first demand was to end SARS, which President Buhari in an usual manner, addressed himself.

Meanwhile in a related development, the alliance for survival of COVID-19 and Beyond, a coalition of labour and civil society groups being led by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has warned the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), against deploying soldiers to disperse the #EndSARS protesters from the streets.

The human rights activist in a statement on behalf of ASCAB on Sunday in Abuja, also vowed to drag the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai, to the International Criminal Court, in The Hague if any of the #EndSARs protesters were killed by any soldiers.

The statement is titled, ‘#EndSARS: Kill protesters, face International Criminal Court, ASCAB cautions Buratai’.

The group specifically urged the Federal Government to withdraw plans to use soldiers to quell the protests that have rocked major cities across Nigeria.

The protests against police brutality which began over a week ago in Lagos and Abuja have spread to about 30 states in the country.

The Nigerian Army had earlier said it would commence Exercise Crocodile Smile VI from October 20 to December 31, as part of its effort to enhance the safety and security of the country.

But Falana, had warned that, “Buhari should not invite soldiers to resolve a purely democratic issue that calls for dialogue and constructive engagement.”

He noted that protests have common features across the world as seen in Hong Kong, United States, France, South Africa, Belarus and even in Sudan.

Adding that in no instance were soldiers deployed to suppress the protesters

“Nigeria wants to set another ugly precedence in world history,” .

He reminded the Federal Government that Operation Crocodile Smile had been declared illegal by a Nigerian Court with competent jurisdiction following legal actions filed by him (Falana).

He added that efforts by the Chief of Army Staff to challenge the order by approaching the Court of Appeal met a brick wall. Because a Federal High Court in July this year, granted a perpetual injunction restraining the Army from such an exercise, in Femi Falana SAN v Chief of Army Staff (FHV/L/CS/1939/19)

He said his group (ASCAB) was already monitoring and compiling a lists of all extra-judicial killings associated with the protests and that Buratai or any soldier involved in any killings would be held personally responsible at the international court.

Stressing that peaceful protest remained the only way, and Nigerians are entitled under the Nigerian constitution to register their grievances against a system that suffocates them.

The statement further read, “The plan to deploy soldiers is dangerous.

“It will push Nigeria into the red light district of global reckoning.

“Sending soldiers after school children and leaders of tomorrow shows what future we anticipate for the teeming population of young men and women who have taken to the streets to protest against a system that buries their dreams and shatter their potentials and aspirations.

“Nigerian authorities said on Saturday that soldiers will be deployed this week to bring an end to the weeklong demonstration over police brutality.

“We urge President Mohammadu Buhari not to use soldiers to quell a peaceful, civil protest.

“The protesters have been lawful. The few cases of violence were associated with armed thugs disrupting the protests coupled with the shooting of protesters by security operatives.”