#ENDSARS protesters threaten total shutdown next week as Ncfront hails youth
The # ENDSARS protesters have threatened to completely shut down the entire country next week if the Federal Government does not acquiesce to their demands for fundamental reforms in the police system even as they accused the government of sponsoring hoodlums to disrupt their protests across the country.
The protesters, who resumed their demonstration in Abuja on Thursday after they were attacked by suspected hoodlums in the nation’s capital on Wednesday, gathered at the Federal Secretariat, displaying banners and placards with different inscriptions demanding far-reaching reforms not just the disbandment of the notorious Special Antirobbery SQUAD(SARS).
One of the protesters, who gave his name as Emmanuel, told Businessday on Thursday that they were not deceived by the dissolution of SARS and its replacement with Special
Weapons and Tactical Team (SWAT) by the Federal Government. He said: “The dissolution of SARS is a farce, they are still in operation, we still see them even in Wuse. Go to Guzape they are still there and doing their evil job. They think Nigerians are foolish but they are wrong.
“We are being taken for granted and if they failed to comply with our demands, next week we are shutting down Nigeria. We want a genuine end to SARS, and police brutality. They should stop killing our youths- the future leaders,” he said.
Another protester, who gave her name as Faith, said: “The government is trying to deceive us by changing SARS to SWAT. It is still the same people they are still going to deploy. So, we are not going to stop until we see visible changes”.
In Abuja, the protesters have for five consecutive days defied police violence and attacks by hoodlums. They have staged more protests, which caused serious traffic gridlock in major areas of the city on Thursday beginning from the Federal Secretariat down to the Unity Fountain, located in the highbrow area of Maitama.
They have marshaled five demands, which include: immediate release of arrested protesters; Justice for all deceased victims of police brutality and appropriate compensation for their families and setting up an independent body to oversee the investigation and prosecution of all reports of Police misconduct (within 10days).
They also demanded that in line with the new Police Act psychological evaluation of retraining (to be confirmed by an independent body) of all disbanded SARS officers before they can be redeployed and increase in police salary so that they are adequately compensated for protecting lives and property of citizens.
Although the InspectorGeneral of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, had on Sunday dissolved SARS and replaced it with SWAT, and declared that no personnel of the disbanded SARS would be recruited into the new outfit, the protesters have remained adamant.
Meanwhile, the National Consultative Front (Ncfront) has hailed Ncfront Youths for Strategic Roles in #Endsars, Endswat, Endpolicebrutality nationwide protest even as it charged Nigerian youths to continue to resist sponsored attacks of political hirelings and hoodlums in the ongoing revolutionary build up in the country.
A statement issued on Thursday by Head, Public Affairs Bureau of Ncfront, Tanko Yunusa, decried the “panicky hiring and criminal attacks on peaceful protesters by political hirelings and hoodlums with the aim of undermining the peaceful and orderly protest of the large section of responsible and resourceful Nigerian Youths, spearheading the popular revolt of the Nigerian masses, who are sorely disenchanted with the present governance deficit in the country.”