Nigerians have taken to social media disagree with a comment by a presidential aide, Garba Shehu that #EndSARS promoters must be “prepared to account for what they did”.
He said this on Sunday during an appearance on Channels Television’s programme, Sunday Politics.
Shehu’s comment came after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) froze the account of 20 #EndSARS promoters while the passport of another promoter, Modupe Odele was seized at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport by personnel of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) penultimate Sunday.
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Asked if the president knew about the actions, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity said, “This country has only one president and has only one constitution. President Muhammadu Buhari is responsible for his government. The buck stops on his table.
“We are a country governed by law. There is a constitution —under section 33— that clearly defines the rights of citizens to freely protest in a peaceful way but where a peaceful protest turns into riot, violence and looting, there is a law and order duty to be performed.
“Everyone witnessed the massive looting of public and private properties particularly in Lagos, Calabar, Plateau, Taraba and some other states, even the FCT.
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“Now, the laws of the country must be allowed to decide, to rule on wrongdoing on the part of anybody.
“I am not particular about any celebrity or promoter but this country has been harmed enormously and people should be prepared to account for what they did.”
But many Nigerians who reacted to the comment on Twitter accused the government of persecuting the peaceful #EndSARS protesters instead of focusing on the hoodlums that hijacked the protests to wreak havoc on private properties and public institutions.
A graduate, Olanike Oladokun, wrote, “Law for what? Where in the constitution did they say it’s a crime to protest???”
Another Nigerian who tweeted from @NgStatueOfL wrote, “The thugs that came in BRT bus in Lagos and SUV cars in Abuja, well captured in pictures and videos, that came to disrupt the peaceful protests, have they been captured? What about their sponsors and promoters? Be deceiving yourself! #EndSARS”
Benedict Shawn wrote, “If this vengeful government doesn’t want to toe the path of peace then they shouldn’t complain when another uprising starts and this time will be more devastating than the last one.”