The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) has advised protesting youth against targeting security formations, as such actions would be perceived as a threat to National Security.
Mr Solomon Adodo, President of NYCN, who gave the advice in Abuja, also advised Nigerians to guard against the protest being hijacked by unscrupulous elements.
The #EndSARS protest started on Oct. 8 with protesters taking to the streets in different parts of the country, calling for a reform of the Police force and disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) for alleged brutality on citizens.
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“The National Youth Council of Nigeria wants to call on all the Nigerian youth that are still on the street, first and foremost, do not take your protests to security formations.
“Whether the Nigerian Police, Nigerian Army or any other security formations; if you do so, it will be taken as a threat to National Security and it will be dealt with as such.
“We also want to urge Nigerians youth: do not be misled into anything that will cause a cataclysm of crisis in the country such as some people who are still proposing a revolution now.
“And then to add a violent twist and an uprising, this is not what we need in Nigeria, so we advise the Nigerian youth, do not be misled under any guise,“ he said.
Adodo urged the aggrieved youths to suspend their protest and give the government an opportunity to dialogue and come up with strategies for meeting their demands now that SARS has been disbanded.
He recommended that teams be set up to follow through with the implementation of the outcome of the dialogue, noting that it is a life-long reformation.
The demands by #EndSARS protesters include the immediate release of all protesters; justice for all deceased victims of police brutality and appropriate compensation for their families.
Others are: setting up an independent body to oversee the investigation and report of police misconduct (within ten days); psychological evaluation and retraining of all disbanded SARS officers before they can be redeployed.
“Now that SARS has ended, we want to call on all the Nigerian youth to pull out from the streets, let us dialogue and strategize; let us draw up our demands and let us set up a team that will be following this thing through.
“It is going to be a lifelong thing, to ensure that if there is any form of oppression because this is not just about SARS, we are talking about the entire Nigerian police force, other security agencies also brutalize citizens.
“So we call on the youths, let our protest not be hijacked by renegade elements or any individuals who want to cause chaos, who want to cause crisis for our country, it will profit no one.
“Let us now pull out of the street and let us redraw a strategic engagement where the right of the Nigerian youth will be defended perpetually,” he said.
