What Buhari, Ministers, APC, Others Must Do To Stop #EndSARS Protests–Lawyers

President Muhammadu Buhari, members of his cabinet and other political actors have been advised not to underplay the demands of EndSARS protesters.

Human Rights Lawyer and Lecturer at the University of Lagos(UNILAG), Wahab Shittu, has recommended that to douse the tension and halt further killings, leadership at all levels must address the needs of the protesters.

He also said that President Muhammadu Buhari has to address the nation.

“There is urgent need to do something and Now. The first strategy will be for the ruling elite across states and FGN to deploy dialogue and constructive engagement. What are the demands of ENDSARS protesters?

“Take these demands and begin to implement them immediately. Obviously there is seeming lack of faith by the populace on the leadership for reasons not unconnected to what VP Osinbajo attributed to the conspiracy of silence for unnecessarily long period. VP Osinbajo rightly apologised. This is good. But beyond the VP’s apology, the president himself on whose desk the buck stops must URGENTLY address the Nation and APOLOGISE to Nigerians sincerely.

“After the apology, the demands of the protesters must be addressed.Elected public officials at all levels, local Govts, states and federal government must show leadership by moving away from their comfort zones to publicly engage the people and meet the protesters with reasoned plan of action to address their concerns.

“They cannot afford to hide behind closed doors or comfort of their offices to talk down on the people. ALL of them must come out to constructively engage the people with power of ideas and power of affirmative action,” he said in a statement made available to THE WHISTLER on Wednesday.

Also, he advised that political office holders must meet with the people at their levels and feel what they feel.

“The Osinbajos, Amechis, Keyamos, Fasholas, and other ministers etc must hit the streets in genuine dialogue with our people.

“The Governors and commissioners in various states must come out and engage the people.

“Town Hall meetings across various states must resumed, deliberations coming out of such meetings must be immediately implemented.

“Senators,legislators at federal level must return to their constituents and engage with their people and give assurances,” he added.

He said that Government must be sensitive to the plights of the citizenry and take concrete steps to address them for the betterment of the country.

“There is no reason to alienate ASUU and allow closure of our universities for so long.
There is no justification for hike in petroleum prices in the midst of rising poverty.

“There is no justification for not meeting the demands of labour for increased welfare and wages.There is no reason for rising food prices and rate of unemployment.

“There is no justification for the huge cost of Governance. Why are senators/ legislators attracting such huge wage bill while lecturers and workers are so poorly paid? Why is the state of our health facilities in a deployment state? Why are our schools shut? Why can’t the masses of our people be gainfully employed? Why is corruption on the rise? Why are recovered looted funds not being deployed for developmental purposes? Why is politics seen as business rather than avenue for service? Why are Nigerians poor in the midst of plenty? Why are the resources of our country concentrated in the hands of few? Why are we having challenges of ethnicity, religion and other forms of discrimination? Why is insecurity on the rise and life so cheap in our country? Why are elections manipulated and electioneering promises not kept? Why are our people taken so much for granted? Why is our country so rich and yet our people so poor? Why are Nigerians moving to other countries in droves to develop the economies of other countries because of poor facilities and incentives at home?.What is difficult about acceeding to genuine requests for restructuring? Why? Why ? Why? Why it does appear there is failure of Governance at all levels? Why are our leaders behaving so arrogantly when they are supposed to be servants of our people? Why is impunity so rife and people are not made accountable for their actions? Why, Why, Why?. These and other issues must be addressed front ally by the ruling elites not from the comfort of their homes and offices but by affirmative actions,” he said.

On his part, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, strongly advised that Government must bring to book those who assaulted peaceful protesters.

“I urge the security to cease further assault on the protesters.

“Government must identify all those responsible and bring them to justice,” he said in a statement on Facebook.