President Muhammadu Buhari has disclosed to former Nigerian leaders that after his decision to concede to the demands of #EndSARS protesters, the youths became emboldened and ‘gradually turned violent’.
Buhari had addressed the nation in a 12 minutes live nationwide broadcast on the ongoing protests, barely 24 hours before his meeting with the former living heads of states.
The meeting which was organized virtually also witnessed the attendance of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and heads of security agencies in the country.
In a statement made available to The Heritage Times, by his spokesperson, Femi Adesina, the President was quoted as saying, “We accepted all the demands and proceeded immediately to scrap SARS and started the process of addressing the other demands.
“Unfortunately, the protesters refused to call off the protest and engage the Government to address their grievances. Instead, they became emboldened and gradually turned violent,” the president told the former leaders,” the statement read.
According to Mr. Adesina, The President reaffirmed his commitment to Nigerians from the nationwide broadcast on Thursday that “We will continue to improve good governance through our democratic process including through sustained engagement.
Adesina continued, “He recalled that the youths had demanded that the squad be disbanded, and further articulated the additional demands, which includes; “the immediate release of all arrested protesters, Justice for deceased victims of police brutality and appropriate compensation for their families; “Setting up an independent body to oversee the investigation and prosecution of all reports of Police misconduct within 10 days; including a psychological evaluation and re-training of all disbanded SARS officers before they can be re-deployed; and increase in Police salary.”
Mr. Adesina also disclosed that, “The former leaders expressed their condolences to the bereaved families of civilians, policemen and soldiers killed as a result of the violent protest, and reaffirmed the commitment to respect the fundamental rights of citizens, including for peaceful protest as enshrined in the Constitution.
“The former Heads of State also condemned the divisive and inciting pronouncements of separatists, and were of the opinion that such acts should be stopped” he added.
Former leaders present at the meeting were: Gen. Yakubu Gowon, President Olusegun Obasanjo, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, Chief Ernest Shonekan, Gen. Abulsalami Abubakar, and former President Goodluck Jonathan.
