ACCRA – The President of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo has joined all well-meaning persons calling for calm and the use of dialogue in resolving the current #EndSARS impasse in Nigeria. According to the Ghanaian president his Nigerian counterpart Muhammadu Buhari
had given assurance of his commitment to a peaceful resolution of the impasse.
Rights group Amnesty International said at least 12 people were killed by soldiers and police in Lagos on Tuesday.
Nigeria’s army had earlier dismissed the reports as “fake news” in a post on Twitter.
The Governor of Lagos Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu imposed an indefinite round-the-clock curfew on the city on Monday, but some defied the order.
Protests against a police unit have been taking place for two weeks. Demonstrators have been using the social media hashtag #EndSars to rally crowds against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (Sars).
President Buhari disbanded Sars on 11 October. But protests have continued, with demands for more changes in the security forces, as well as reforms to the way the country is run.
In a related development, The ECOWAS Commission has expressed its condolences to the families and friends of those who have lost their lives during the protests and wishes the injured a speedy recovery.
This was contained in a statement issued later on Wednesday by the president of the ECOWAS Commission, H.E. Jean-Claude Kassi Brou on behalf of the Commission.
“While ECOWAS Commission recognizes the right of citizens to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and protests, it is also of the view that those rights should be exercised in a non-violent manner. In this regard, ECOWAS Commission calls on all protesters to remain peaceful in the conduct of their demonstrations. It also urges the Nigerian security operatives to exercise restraint in the handling of the protests and act professionally”, the statement noted.
The statement ended by appealing to the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Nigerian youth and the civil society to urgently pursue dialogue for an early and amicable resolution of this social unrest and maintain the Nigerian image as a bastion of law and order. Source: Africa6News
