Citizen Commons Joins Solidarity and National Action to #EndSARS.
As part of the effort to support and mobilise citizen action towards the ongoing national action on police brutality in Nigeria. Citizen Commons hosted youth leaders and organisations under the auspice of Coalition for New Nigeria – CfNN.
The Press Conference Call for Immediate intervention and response from the President to the plight of young Nigerians. Condemn in strong terms the killings of young Nigerians in different parts of the country, particularly the incidence of the Lekki toll gate massacre of Tuesday, 20th October 2020.
We call on the President and Commander-in-Chief to direct the Inspector General of Police and the Service Chiefs to immediat ely identify all those involved in the violent attack of peaceful protesters.
We demand that all the states who are yet to set up a Judicial Panel of Inquiry must do so within the next seven (7) days to investigate the conduct of state security apparatus in the ongoing peaceful protests across the country.
While these measures are being implemented, the government should cease and desist from adopting positions including ‘ungolden’ silence that betrays sympathy to the violence that is being unleashed on our streets and against our youths. The body language of the government might make it difficult to de-escalate and resolve the current crisis. As such, we demand that the President should immediately address the nation to de-escalate the rising tension in the country.
Finally, we encourage our youths on peaceful protests on our streets to continue to be peaceful. We must never respond with violence against violence. We must also be ready to dialogue since every crisis including wars end up on the negotiation table. But we insist that it must be an inclusive and altruistic negotiation table. We must never allow opportunists and criminal elements to Infiltrate our ranks. We are not calling for subversion of government. We are just peaceful youths who have been pushed to the wall by a system that seeks to exclude and undermine us.