UNILAG branch condemns killing of youths
By Funmi Ogundare in Lagos and Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) yesterday condemned the killings of #EndSARS protesters at Lekki, Lagos, and other parts of the country.
The University of Lagos branch of the union also condemned the “wicked killing of innocent and defenceless youths peacefully protesting against the impunity and recklessness of members of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) operatives.
ASUU said the killing in the ongoing protest is a crime against humanity, calling on the United Nations to show serious interest in the descent to totalitarianism by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government.
The Chairman of the University of Ibadan chapter of the union, Prof. Ayo Akinwole, in a statement made available to THISDAY yesterday, said the federal government’s repressive attacks on the advocacy and demands for responsible and responsive governance by Nigerian youths showed that Nigeria is tending towards repressive military governance.
He said the killings of the youths demanding justice against brutality and being murdered in cold blood have revealed that the security brutality of Nigerians is an agenda of the federal government.
Akinwole stated further that it is a taboo for parents to bury their children in Yoruba land and in most cultures, adding that President Buhari has committed a taboo.
He said peaceful protest and demonstration are forms of political participation to bring about positive changes, but regretted that the Buhari administration represses every voice of reason while behaving like a military president.
ASUU lamented that Nigerian youths have not enjoyed any good thing, and are being deprived of funding in education, face unemployment, and are worse hit by poverty.
Instead of learning how to be responsible and take care of the people as shown by the organisational capacity of the #EndSARS youth, Akinwole lamented that the government tyrannically snuffed out the lives of promising future leaders.
He then called for justice for all victims of Lekki genocide and others killed in other locations in the country, adding that the present crop of Nigerian leaders are low on empathy.
According to Akinwole, “The federal government should immediately stop the shooting, maiming, and brutalisation of our students and youths. We affirm their inalienable right to live and express their aspirations peacefully as guaranteed in the Nigerian Constitution and other international protocols on human rights, including those of the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS), African Union (AU) and the United Nations.
“In light of this, we call on members of the Nigerian political class, and the government to rein in the thugs being unleashed on our students and the public. We commend them all, and urge that they do not be provoked into taking steps inimical to their peaceful objectives.”
Meanwhile, Unilag ASUU has condemned the ‘wicked killing of innocent and defenceless youths peacefully protesting against the impunity and recklessness of members of the SARS
The Chairman of the union, Dr. Dele Asbury, in a statement, said: “ When a nation viciously and malevolently hacks down its youths in the most reprehensible manner, its portends danger for the entire society and a recipe for anarchy.”
