Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja.
President Muhammadu on Sunday met with Senate President Ahmad Lawan and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, to review the ongoing #EndSARS protests across the country and to find the fastest way to implement the protesters five-point demand.
Speaking to State House Correspondents at the end of the meeting at the president’s official residence in Abuja, Lawan said they met to decide on an expeditious manner to implement the demand.
He admitted that this was a trying moment for the government and thanked the President for exhibiting great democratic credentials.
The Senate President pointed out that the youth had made their legitimate demands and the government has listened.
He has therefore, called on the youths to halt the protests so that the government can have sufficient time to meet their demands, saying “government needs to have sufficient time and conducive environment to implement the demands of the protesters.”
The Senate President stated that the first demand was to end SARS, which President Buhari in an usual manner, addressed himself.
Lawan said: “This is certainly a trying moment for our country and the leadership of this country. As the National Assembly, we believe we have critical and crucial roles in ensuring that the current situation of protests across the country is brought to an end.
“I want to thank Mr President for exhibiting his very deep democratic credentials. The protests have gone on for over 10 days, probably today is the 11th day across many states of the country.
“I think the protesters have expressed their legitimate rights, the government has listened and the essence of coming to meet Mr President is to review the situation and see the roles the two arms of government should play in ensuring that the five-point demands of the protesters are properly addressed.
“Where legislative intervention will be required, we are ready to move in and deal with such expeditiously to ensure that we do not waste any time, so that we address the concerns of our youths.
“Where the executive role is expected, we are sure that the executive will also expedite action and we will be watching to ensure that such demands are properly met.
“It is also very critical at this point to mention this. Since the protests have taken place and the issues have been accepted, the time has come for the protests to stop because government needs to have sufficient time and conducive environment to implement the demands of the protesters.”
The Senate President also appealed to the youths to put on hold the protest as it might hurt the economy.
He said: “We also need to have our economy to continue to go on. When you try to stop people from engaging in their lawful activities, closing roads to markets and other economy places, such will distract the country’s economy and that is not the best way to go.
“If the issues have not been accepted, then there would have been genuine reasons to continue with the protests but since the issues have been accepted, we should give government time to implement the issues.
“Therefore, I am seizing this opportunity to appeal to our youths who are protesting that the protests have already yielded the desired results. First of all, they said ‘end SARS.’ That was the beginning and SARS was scrapped, not by the IGP. SARS was scrapped by the President himself. The President made a presidential statement. And that was the first time a President will say end SARS and SARS has ended.
“The other issues followed. They are being addressed, and that is why we are here. I believe that the time has come for these protests to come to an end and allow government to address the issues in a very short time.
“I also believe that Nigerians have legitimate rights to go about their lawful businesses without let or hindrance. We cannot have that when the roads are blocked. We do not want a situation that will lead to a degeneration of law and order because if somebody is blocked and he feels he must have his way.
“So, we will that withdrawing from these protests at this time is the right thing to do. Meanwhile, give us the opportunity to deal with matters that we have agreed as a government to handle.”
Gbajabiamila on his part said: “I can assure you that there is no bigger democrat than Mr President. He gave us a listening ear, the same that he always gives Nigerians.
“He accepted absolutely everything that Nigerians asked for. I have heard the stories that we have heard end SARS like four times before. That is what people are saying.
“Like I said, you have never heard it from Mr President, but now, he has said so. So, let us tarry a little while. Let us sit back. We have got what we want, let us sit back and see what happens.
“If you like, you begin your protests again if nothing happens in two weeks. But let us not continue this thing and lose the plot. That is what I don’t want.
“I don’t want our youths to lose the plot. They have done so well in terms of expressing their grievances and it is important we don’t get side-tracked.
“Of course, there are tangential issues that they have discussed after the EndSARS. We have spoken with Mr President and he is looking at everything.
“Some of these things are policy matters that are not going to happen overnight. You are not going to have electricity overnight; it is not going to happen tomorrow. Free road is not going to happen tomorrow.
“It is a process and the important thing is that the government has heard you loud and clear. It is a continuous engagement. We will be engaging our youths in matters of policy and communicate with Mr President as well on what needs to be done.
“So, again, let us not lose the plot, let us remain focused. Points have been made like never before in the history of Nigeria and that is kudos to the young men and women out there.”
Reacting to the attack on Osun State Governor, Gboyega Oyetola, he described it as unfortunate.
He said: “As far as Osun State is concerned, it is unfortunate what happened to the state governor. This is where I said we are beginning to lose the plot. Osun state governor is loved by everybody in the state. He came to address people and that was what he got. At that point, we begin to wonder what exactly do we want? Is there an unseen hand? I don’t think there is an unseen hand. This is a movement. We should not allow people to infiltrate what otherwise is a good course.
“My advice is that even if there is trust deficiency, let us, for whatever it is worth, trust government for what it has done now. It has ended SARS, nobody can argue that. SARS is ended completely, never to be heard anybody. We talking about SWAT now.
“We interrogated the IGP about three days ago and we asked the question and he explained to us that in any security agency, particularly the police, if there is a special unit and you disband it, you don’t leave a vacuum. It is apparently a police code anywhere in the world that you don’t leave a vaccum, it has to be filled and that was why he came up with SWAT.
“Having come up with SWAT, the criteria, the engagement, the personnel, what they can do and what they cannot do, they are complete departure from what SARS was meant to operate.
“Let us remain focus and stay on track. Let us work with government. We are all on the same page. It is not you against us. We are all on one page and if we are on one page, we will get the desired result.”
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