Laleye Dipo in Minna
Former Military Head of state General Abdulsalami Abubakar has told Nigerian Youths to stop their #ENDSARS protests taking place across the country and embrace dialogue.
In the same vein Abdulsalami Abubakar also asked the government to address the grievances of the youths.
Addressing some newsmen on Thursday, the former military leader charged both the protesters and the government to give peace a chance in the overall interest of the country.
He noted that these “unfortunate incident (protests) is causing serious concern to many Nigerians and if care is not taken it might take the country to point of no return”.
According to him, the youths have “strongly and clearly made their points” as such they should “withdraw from the streets and prepare for dialogue”.
“All Nigerians have grievances, whatever the matter is, I appealed to our youth who have strongly and clearly made their points to withdraw from the streets and prepare for dialogue.”
Abubakar who is also the national Chairman of the Nigeria Peace Committee advised President Muhammadu Buhari to “continue addressing the grievances expressed by those youths and layout programmes that meet and addresses the objective of the protesters.”
He lamented the hijack of the protests by “criminals resulting to violence, destruction of government critical infrastructure and private properties as well as criminal release of prisoner’s by the hoodlums” saying the action was responsible for government “sending out security agencies to restore law and order which unfortunately further led to loss of more innocent lives”.
Abdulsalami however expressed dismay at “the shooting of those harmless youths”, added that “the shooting has left all of us dumbfounded. It’s unfortunate”.
