Okwe Obi, Abuja

A civil society organisation known as Genuine #EndSARS Protesters has disowned an activist, Omoyele Sowore, over alleged attempt to usurp the movement following a protest staged on Sunday at the Force headquarters and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

In a statement, jointly signed Tuesday, by its Coordinators drawn from the 6 geo-political zones, Orji Nwakocha, Aremu Babatunde, Frank Jaja, Ibrahim Dan Iya, Mohammed Adamu, and Dakwohi Samson; Peter Yohana, respectively, they said the protest was needless since President Muhammadu Buhari, had promised to accede to the demands.

Nwakocha said: “The attention of the Genuine #EndSARS protesters has been drawn to the Sunday, November 1, 2020 attempt in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, to relaunch the now-rested nationwide demonstrations demanding an end to the dreaded police squad, and general reform of the Nigeria Police.

“Ordinarily, the Genuine #EndSARS protesters would not have dignified this latest development, but for the character, disposition and antecedent of the person at the centre of this, whose infamy remains unparalleled in contemporary Nigerian politics.

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“Having said this, we wish to unequivocally dissociate ourselves from the attempt by Omoyele Sowore and his few co-travellers, to relaunch the #EndSARS protests, which have since been rested by the original promoters, to allow action from governments at the various levels.

“We make bold to say that, considering the aftermath of the nationwide protests – as seen in the hijack by hoodlums and attendant deaths, destruction of public and private property – no responsible citizen would want to re-ignite the event.”

He added: “Clearly, this move – to all intent and purposes – is manifestly tendentious, overtly self-serving and anything but altruistic.

“It is designed to further his selfish agenda of blackmailing the federal government, and we completely dissociate ourselves from this move by a man seen in many instances as a meddlesome interloper, who seeks to hijack noble causes, for premeditated ends.

“We hereby call on millions of our articulate, ever-conscious and responsible youths across the 36 states of the federation, and the FCT, to resist this latest antics by Sowore, as it will not only threaten the relative peace being enjoyed today, but disturb the socio-economic fabric of a nation negotiating recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.”