The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Thursday charged President Muhammadu Buhari to declare national emergency in the nation’s security architecture over the #EndSARS protest that has turned violent.
PDP national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, who stated this when he briefed journalists on the state of the nation, Thursday, in Abuja noted that for nearly two weeks Nigerian youths have been revolting through a peaceful protest against Police brutality as mirrored by a unit of the Nigeria Police Force called the Special Anti-Robbery Squad.
Secondus added that: “This responsibility rests squarely with the federal government who controls and manages the Police force. But rather than do something urgently as a committed and civilised government, the federal government under the watch of President Muhammadu Buhari chose instead to remain mum in the face of the people’s legitimate outcry for attention and justice.
“PDP finds the glaring snobbish silence of the president and the injection of violence into the peaceful protest as unacceptable as it paved the way for the deployment of the military to murder innocent harmless Nigeria youths,” Secondus said.
PDP national chairman stated that: “This was callously done on Tuesday night at the Lekki tollgate in Lagos where some group of armed uniformed soldiers of the Nigeria Army opened fire on protesting youths killing and maiming several of them.
He continued: “PDP stands shoulder to shoulder with all the victims of this brutal attitude and condemns in the strongest term, the mindless and inhuman shooting of citizens, an action that runs foul of every national and international law. We also urge the protesting youths to ensure that they continue to be peaceful even in the face of provocations.
“We mourn with the families of those affected and pray that their supreme sacrifice will not be in vain, and that through their blood, God can help heal Nigeria of the malady of poor leadership that has bedeviled the country.
“Rather than emulate legitimate responses of civilised leaders to protests of this nature across the democratic nations globally, Nigeria government prefers the ignominious option of the 1989 Tiananmen Square in China that ended with a military crackdown that became known in history as the Tiananmen Square massacre.
“A government that should be concerned about national security has also dangerously gone ahead to encourage violence by deploying troops against protesting citizens
“As the main opposition party who has carefully watched this development, PDP views the dimension the federal government is directing the protest as unfortunate and dangerous to national cohesion and peace.”
