Nigerians under the coalition of civil society groups has given the Federal Government and Nigerian Army 15 days to arrest and prosecute the soldiers that shot the #EndSARS protesters at Lekki Toll Gate, Lagos State.
The groups threatened that if the killer soldiers are not arrested before the expiration of the ultimatum on November 1, 2020, they will will organize the mother of all protests that Nigerians have never seen in its history.
This was contained in a statement issued on Wednesday by the groups comprising of the Campaign for Democracy, CD, Human Rights, Liberty Access and Peace Defenders’ Foundation, HURIDE, Civil Liberties Organization, CLO, and Igbo Elders Forum (IEF).
Speaking on behalf of the groups in Onitsha, Publicity Secretary of CD, and Chairman CD, South East Zone, Dede Uzor said the government should set up a fund to compensate the families.
“The protest was peaceful and very well organized, until some suspected thugs sponsored by people with a vested interest in government, started attacking them and instigating the supporters of the protester to violence, before the soldiers of the Nigerian Army, were drafted to open fire on them.
“The story is no more about whether soldiers were involved or not, the Army through Major Olaniyi on Tuesday revealed soldiers involvement and who invited them, we are now concerned about the soldiers or officers that carried out the shooting.
“This kind of shooting of protesting civilians does not happen in a Democratic government, so we are calling on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, to within fifteen days, fish out Army officials that were responsible for the shooting of the protesters at Lekki Tollgate.
“If at the expiration of fifteen-day, from now to November 1st, 2020, the soldiers of the Nigerian Army who carried out the despicable shooting of the protesters were not shown to Nigerians, we will organize the mother of all protests that Nigerians have never seen in its history, to show to the world that Nigeria is not a banana republic and Nigerians are not happy that their citizens are being killed like rats.”
The groups lambasted the Lagos State Government and the Army for feigning ignorance of persons behind the shooting when in actual sense they were united in sending troops to Lekki toll gate, which they said the Army finally exposed on Tuesday.
KanyiDaily recalls that after several denial, the Nigerian Army finally revealed that it was summoned to the protest scene at Lekki Toll Gate by the Lagos State Government.
