Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, South Africa Chapter has called on Nigerian governments at all levels to ensure that the judicial panels instituted in the wake of the #EndSARS protests are allowed to do their work unhindered and without political interference.
In a statement signed by the Chapter Chairman and Secretary, Mr. Ekos Akpokabayen and Dr. Emeka Ugwu respectively, they also recommended that the findings of the panels should be made public, and issues raised therefrom properly addressed.
The Chapter, which was reacting to the EndSARS protest organised by youth across different states in the country calling for the scrapping of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, of the Federal Government, commended the “astuteness, and gallantry of the Nigerian youths, for taking the bull by the horn, and exercising their democratic rights, as enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution.”
They condemned “unequivocally and in strong terms” the use of live ammunition by security agents on the protesters and commiserated with the families and friends of those who lost their lives, stressing that “they paid the ultimate price with their lives for a better and just Nigeria. Their struggle, shall never be in vain.”
They insisted that governments at all levels should urgently address the issues raised and demands made by the youths, warning that “A delay is tantamount to shifting the evil day, which will surely come.”
The party equally warned “against the insatiable tendencies of the present administration to go on a borrowing spree intermittently,” noting that this “has a huge potential to mortgage the future of Nigeria and Nigerians, more so, the youth in many respects.”
They urged government to focus on addressing the security and other challenges facing the country, to create enabling environment for the growth of the economy, stressing that Nigeria has a huge deposit of human resources, both within and in diaspora, as well as a surfeit of material resources that could be tapped to grow the economy, urging that “these should be targeted and judiciously utilised.”
