Prominent human rights activist Aisha Yesufu has called on the Nigerian government to either allow citizens to protest peacefully or make a violent protest inevitable.
The fiery activist was reacting to reports from the nation’s dailies where it was suggested that threats from the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and the police forced #EndSARS protesters to retreat.
Promoters of the protests had flagged a second installment, barely a month after several private and government properties were looted when the process was hijacked by sponsored hoodlums.
But Yesufu, when she appeared on ARISE News said that the present generation promoting the #EndSARS are not giving up and noted that while the Nigerian government may believe it’s winning “it’s not, and the earlier the government gives in to their demands, the better it will be for the nation”.
“The #EndSARS protesters are still talking and it’s not the end. One of the things I will like the Nigerian government to understand is that it’s either you allow people to protest peacefully or they will protest violently.
“When we talk about protests, the peaceful protest is the one the #EndSARS protesters did, coming out because they believe in the government, they are asking the government to do the right thing.
“Those who are protesting violently are the ones who are out on the streets, banditry, thuggery, kidnapping and all of that, those are also protest against the system and it’s so sad that the Nigerian government prefers and panders to the people who protest violently, then they calm down and attack and maim and kill people who protest peacefully,” she said.
According to her, “we’ve not seen the end of #EndSARS protests as protests come in different forms and this generation are sick and tired of being hounded to death”.
By Abel Ejikeme