Lekki Shooting: Fish Out Shooters In 15 Days Or Risk Another Protest, Group Tells FG, Army

A coalition of civil society groups on Wednesday gave Federal Government and Nigerian Army fifteen days ultimatum to fish out the soldiers that shot the #EndSARS, protesters at Lekki Toll Gate Lagos.

The groups comprising the Campaign for Democracy, CD, Human Rights, Liberty Access and Peace Defenders’ Foundation, HURIDE, Civil Liberties Organization, CLO, and Igbo Elders Forum, IEF, threatened another protest at the expiration of the ultimatum.

They flayed the Lagos State government and the Nigerian Army for feigning ignorance of persons behind the shooting when in actual sense they were united in sending troops to Lekki toll gate, which they said the Army finally exposed on Tuesday.

Speaking on behalf of the groups in Onitsha, Publicity Secretary of CD, and Chairman CD, South East Zone, Dede Uzor Uzor, the group also said the Federal Government should set up a fund to compensate the families.

He said, “The protest was peaceful and very well organized, until some suspected thugs sponsored by people with a vested interest in government, started attacking them and instigating the supporters of the protester to violence, before the soldiers of the Nigerian Army, were drafted to open fire on them.

"The story is no more about whether soldiers were involved or not, the Army through Major Olaniyi on Tuesday revealed soldiers involvement and who invited them, we are now concerned about the soldiers or officers that carried out the shooting.

“This kind of shooting of protesting civilians does not happen in a Democratic government, so we are calling on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, to within fifteen days, fish out Army officials that were responsible for the shooting of the protesters at Lekki Tollgate.

“If at the expiration of fifteen-day, from now to November 1st, 2020, the soldiers of the Nigerian Army who carried out the despicable shooting of the protesters were not shown to Nigerians, we will organize the mother of all protests that Nigerians have never seen in its history, to show to the world that Nigeria is not a banana republic and Nigerians are not happy that their citizens are being killed like rats.”

Comments

EndSARS: Protesters In New York Want SARS Operatives Sacked

Hundreds of young anti-SARS protesters on Sunday stormed the Nigeria House in New York demanding transparency in the disbandment of the police unit back home. The protesters said operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad found wanting should be sacked and not redeployed. Among them was Stephen “Papi” Ojo, the artist, model, and choreographer who stole the show as the ‘blue-guy’ in Beyoncé’s “Already” music video. The protest started shortly after the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, announced the dissolution of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad. Adamu also announced plans for a new arrangement to address anticipated policing gaps following the disbandment, and the constitution of an investigative team to probe the alleged cases of rights violations, among others. But the protesters, who bore placards with different inscriptions including, “We no want audio ban”, said they were not buying it. They argued that previous commitments announced by the force to change...

Biden Announces Purchase Of 200M Vaccine Doses

President Joe Biden announced a series of measures on Tuesday aimed at ramping up coronavirus vaccine allocation and distribution, including the purchase of 200 million more vaccine doses and increased distribution to states by millions of doses next week. With those additional doses, Biden said there would be enough to fully vaccinate 300 million Americans -- nearly the entire US population -- by the end of summer or early fall. He described efforts to combat Covid-19 as a "wartime undertaking." We now have a national strategy to beat Covid-19. It's comprehensive. It's based on science, not politics. It's based on truth, not denial, and it is detailed," he said. As part of the new efforts announced Tuesday, the US will buy 100 million more doses from Pfizer/BioNTech and 100 million more from Moderna -- the two-dose vaccines that have been granted emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration. Pfizer and Moderna are working to step up p...

Open grazing ban in South irreversible, Akeredolu replies Malami

The Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, has tackled the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Shehu Malami, for faulting the ban placed on open grazing in the Southern part of the country. The Southern Governors had at a meeting in Asaba last week banned open grazing and asked the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to address the nation over the increasing rate of insecurity in the country. However, Malami who appeared as a guest on Channels Television on Wednesday faulted the ban, arguing that the governor had no right to do that. Akeredolu, who is the Chairman of Southern Governors’ Forum, spoke in a statement he personally signed on Thursday, titled, ‘ Our decision is irreversible and will be enforced ’. He asked the AGF to challenge the governor’s position on open grazing in court, adding that Malami’s comments were “ unfortunate and wicked ”. Part of the statement read, “I have just read the press statement credited to the Attorney...

ExtMedia

Search This Blog