By The Centre for Environmental Sustainability and Development Awareness (CESDA) has condemned the infiltration and violence that marred the ongoing peaceful #EndSARS protest.
Oluwaseyi Ogunko, Chairman, Centre for Environmental Sustainability and Development Awareness (CESDA), said “In what is apparently a throwback to the dark days of military dictatorship, peaceful protesters and compatriots who have taken a principled stand against the illegalities being perpetrated against the Nigerian people, have been placed under surveillance.
“Our expectation was that after a long silence from the government, and seeing the opprobrium it had generated from Nigerians, the government would tow an acceptable and less divisive path. To our consternation however, what we have seen is a continuation of impunity, using the coercive instruments of state power.
“The attempts to intimidate the citizenry and the barbaric use of security forces to coerce citizens to withdraw from the peaceful protest is unacceptable. We therefore call on government to immediately bring to a halt the ongoing violence across the country by the infiltrators.
“We make bold to say that the government is further eroding its legitimacy as long as it continues to feign ignorance of what is presently bedeviling the country.
“This brazen infringement under whatever guise on the fundamental rights and civil liberties of Nigerians is a recipe for chaos and anarchy.
“CESDA therefore demands an immediate end to all attacks on innocent lives and destruction of properties as witnessed in Lagos and other parts of the country.
“It is therefore ironic that some elements in their desperation are doing everything possible to insert violence into the political space. The unpatriotic role of the police in the rigmarole and attempt to quell the peaceful protest that led to the lost of lives and properties as exhibited in numerous places across the country is not lost on all well-meaning Nigerians.
“We therefore deem it necessary to admonish the government of the grave dangers of turning a blind eye to the turn of events.
“While CESDA calls on Mr. President to immediately address the state of the nation in a bid to quickly put the situation under control, specifically in the light of the demands by the Nigerian youths as silence on this matter will not be taken as golden, we demand the investigation of perpetrators of the ongoing atrocities targeted at unarmed protesters and wanton destruction of properties as witnessed across the country.
“While we salute the courage of our teeming youths all over the country for the courage, patriotism, we urge all and sundry to eschew violence and desist for any action that may further overheat the country.
“We hope that these golden agitations by Nigerians would lead to reforms that will unleash Nigeria’s full potential.
“Long live Federal Republic of Nigeria; the struggle continues!”
