#EndSARS: I Won’t Impose Ideas On States, Buhari Tells U.S.

President Muhammadu Buhari has told the United States that his administration will allow state governments to make pronouncements on the reports of their respective #EndSARS panels before taking a position on the matter.

Buhari said this when he received the United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

“So many state governments are involved, and have given different terms of reference to the probe panels.

“We at the Federal have to wait for the steps taken by the states, and we have to allow the system to work. We can’t impose ideas on them. Federal Government has to wait for the reaction of the states,” Buhari’s senior media adviser, Femi Adesina, quoted him to have told Blinken on Thursday.

THE WHISTLER had reported that U.S had welcomed the report of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry which indicted the Nigerian Army and the Lagos State government for allegedly killing unarmed #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki toll gate on October 20, 2020.

“We look forward to the Lagos State government’s response as part of a process that represents an important mechanism of accountability regarding the #EndSARS protests and the events that took place near the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020.

“Those events led to serious allegations against some members of the security forces, and we look forward to the Lagos State and federal governments taking suitable measures to address those alleged abuses as well as the grievances of the victims and their families,” the U.S Embassy in Nigeria had said in Facebook post.

Meanwhile, Buhari expressed Nigeria’s appreciation to Bliken on the removal of the country from the U.S. watchlist of countries violating religious freedom.

According to Adesina, Buhari told the U.S Secretary of State that Nigeria respects freedom of worship of citizens and does not discriminate against anyone on the basis of their faith.

The president further thanked the U.S. government for allowing Nigeria to procure military hardware from its country to fight terrorism in the country.

“It’s helping us to stabilize the situation in the Northeast, and we’ve made a lot of progress since 2015,” he said. “We are doing a lot on security, and the people involved appreciate our efforts.”