Sunday Ani
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Enugu-based lawyer, Chief Josephat Nna Odo has advised the Federal Government (FG) against freezing the bank accounts of #ENDSARS protesters, warning that such action was capable of triggering another round of protest in the country.
He called for caution in handling the matter, regardless of what any governor or anybody might say.
Chief Odo was reacting to the recent clampdown on the #ENDSARS protesters’ bank accounts by the FG.
A statement by Chief Odo, which was made available to the Daily Sun, described the government’s action as an act of victimisation and a handiwork of evil advisers.
He said such action by the government does not show any commitment to the peaceful resolution of the protesters’ agitations.
The statement read in part: “The action of the government, by hunting the #ENDSARS protesters seems to me a case of misplaced priority and worsening the situation in the economy. Freezing of accounts of the youths means that the owners of the accounts will not feed, thereby imposing hunger on them like the one imposed by COVID-19 pandemic
“The ENDSARS protest was a peaceful protest carried out without any hidden agenda but was hijacked by the bad people. These individuals were just performing their basic fundamental rights; trying to get the government to look into the issues they felt required urgent attention.
“Even President Muhammadu Buhari pledged during the protest that his administration would do justice to the demands of the protesters. If you have agreed to settle the issue of the economy and ameliorate the problems of the protesting youths so that they can be at rest, why then should bad advisers go back to the government to truncate its noble intention. This is unfair and it has the capacity of triggering off another wave of protest; one which nobody can imagine.”
He, however, urged the president to ignore those advising him to kill the protesters’ demands with terror and apply wisdom, maturity and deep caution in engaging the volatile situation.
“What should be happening now is proper healing and ensuring we do not have to go through that unpleasant route again.
“The FG should explore concrete means of tackling the demands presented by the youths, rather than creating more fronts of conflict and new enemies because those whose accounts have been frozen will face such hunger and deprivation capable of snowballing into explosive crises,” he further stressed.
