By Shakirudeen Bankole
President Muhammadu Buhari, has finally broken his silence over the ongoing nationwide protest in the country, appealing to the Nigerian youths to stay calm.
In a10-minute address Thursday, the President acknowledged that some Nigerians youths have been subjected to undue brutality in the hands of some unscrupulous members of the now disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad, and it was their constitutional right to get justice against such crime.
However, the President kept mum on the military clampdown on protesters Tuesday, at the Lekki Toll gate, leading to the lost of many lives and escalating an already tensed situation in Lagos and around the country.
The President promised to ensure that justice is served for all the victims, and that a commitment to such was what made him adopted the protesters’ five point demands, saying, “we have heard you loud and clear.”
Buhari said the immediate disbandment of SARS is one of the loudest commitment to such promise.
He also admittedly said it was constitutional thing to protest peacefully, but stressed that such a right come with the responsibility to ensure that the fundamental rights of other citizens were not trampled upon in the process.
He said his administration has had the protesters’ pains and in “both our deeds and words have demonstrated the commitments of our govenrment to address the issues raised.”
He said his “Government has a broad plan to lift 100million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years.”
