Deji Elumoye in Abuja
The pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, and its Niger Delta counterpart, Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), have called for the arrest and prosecution of all police officers involved in the killing of innocent citizens in the course of the #EndSARS protests that rocked different parts of the country in the last few days.
The two groups, while reacting yesterday to the disbandment of Police Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) across the 36 states of the federation and Abuja, lauded the step taken in this regard by the Inspector-General of Police (IG), Mohammed Adamu.
Afenifere in a reaction by its spokesman, Yinka Odumakin, described the dissolution of the police anti-robbery squad as a welcome development despite the fact that agitation for its scrapping had claimed some lives.
The group, therefore, called for the immediate arrest and trial of the killer policemen of #EndSARS protesters.
Odumakin said: “It is a good thing that this responsiveness has come, but unfortunate, it was only after the police had wasted more precious lives. Those who killed those protesters must be fished out and punished.”
Also reacting, PANDEF, while welcoming the disbandment of SARS, described the IG’s action as a positive detour from the established “unheeding” tendency of the Presidnt Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The group in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Hon Ken Robinson, said the government has heeded the uproar of the citizens against SARS, and for once, acted promptly in disbanding the Special Squad “whose personnel went off their duty lines and core mandate of combating armed robbery, kidnapping and other violent crimes in the country, and virtually became a terror gang with disturbing reports of their wanton misdeeds, particularly against young people, across the country.”
PANDEF in the statement further submitted that: “We are in a constitutional democracy, and therefore, citizens legitimate and valid opinions and concerns ought to be given attention by the government. We therefore commend the president and the IG for the timely response to the #EndSARS Now campaign.
“We hope that other troubling issues in the country would also receive such quick and positive attention. And that it was not because the daughters of the president and his vice also added their voice to the campaign.
“We call on the president and the IG to ensure that the process does not end with mere dissolution of the infamous SARS; all germane complaints against personnel of the disbanded SARS must be thoroughly investigated, and those found culpable should be made to face the full wrath of the law to serve as a warning to others.”
