Elder statesman, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has called on governors in states where protests against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad forced declaration of curfews to immediately demand the withdrawal of soldiers deployed by the Federal Government.
The playwright, in a message on Wednesday from his residence in Abeokuta, Ogun State, titled, ‘DÉJÀ VU– In tragic vein,’ spoke on the backdrop of the reported killing of unarmed protesters by soldiers at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos on Tuesday night after a 24-hour curfew imposed on the state by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
There have been peaceful protests across many states in the country against police brutality and the F-SARS, a unit in the Nigeria Police Force.
The Nobel laureate said, “To the affected governors all over the nation, there is one immediate step to take: demand the withdrawal of those soldiers. Convoke town hall meetings as a matter of urgency. 24-hour curfews are not the solution. Take over the security of your people with whatever resources you can rummage. We commiserate with the bereaved and urge state governments to compensate material losses, wherever.
“The Army must apologise, not merely to the nation but to the global community – the facts are indisputable – you, the military, opened fire on unarmed civilians. There has to be structured restitution and assurance that such aberrations will not again be recorded. Then both governance and its security arms can commence a meaningful, lamentably overdue dialogue with society.”
Credit: punchng.com
The post EndSARS: Demand immediate withdrawal of soldiers; Soyinka tells governors appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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