Nigeria’s Senate President Ahmad Lawan says the time has come for an end to the #EndSARS protest as government will need sufficient time and a clement environment to implement the demands of the protesters.
“It is very critical at this point to mention this. Since the protests have taken place and the issues have been accepted, the time has come for the protests to stop because government needs to have sufficient time and a clement environment to implement the demands if the protesters,” Lawan said Sunday after a meeting between President Buhari and the leadership of the National Assembly.
The senate president also said the country needs economic activities to continue to go on as putting a stop to that can cause anarchy.
“Safe protesting zones are normal practice in democracies worldwide. People do not shut down economies in the name of protest. That is anarchy. So we should make a clear distinction as to what is allowable and what is not. The middle ground is ensuring that we have safe zones where young people can continue protesting. But the closure and blockade of streets and airports can and will be stopped,” Lawan told reporters after meeting with President Buhari.
Lawan said protesters would have genuine reasons to continue protesting if the reasons of the demonstrations have not been met.
“If the issues have not been accepted then there would have been genuine reasons to continue with the protests. But since the issues have been accepted they should give government time to implement the issues. I am therefore taking this opportunity to appeal to our youths who are protesting that the protests have already yielded the desired result.
“First if all they said end SARS and it was ended not by the IGP, it was ended by the President Buhari who gave a presidential statement and that will be the first time any president will say end SARS and it ended and other issues followed,” he said.
Protests have continued in Nigeria against the scrapped Special Anti-Robbery Unit of the Nigeria Police Force. Demonstrators mainly youths are calling for good governance and an end to police brutality and extrajudicial killings.The protests have sometimes witnessed some level of violence in some parts of the country within the last 10 days with country’s government through the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed sternly warning that it will not fold its hands and allow the country slide into anarchy.
By Abel Ejikeme