President Muhammadu Buhari has warned the United States and other neighbouring countries against interfering into Nigerian internal issues that they know nothing about as he completely kept silence on Army killings of unarmed EndSARS protesters at Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos on Tuesday night.
Buhari in his 27-page address to the nation on Thursday said his administration has solved the genuine concerns of the #EndSARS protesters as far back as12th of October. He blamed the protesters for the violence and that the innocent lives lost were unnecessary.
The president said the protesters misconstrued his prompt response to their demands as a sign of weakness to promote selfish and unpatriotic interests.
“Sadly, the promptness with which we have acted seemed to have been misconstrued as a sign of weakness and twisted by some for their selfish unpatriotic interests.”
He boasted that his administration has put in place measures to cater for the youths, women and the most vulnerable groups in the society. He mentioned the plan to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years; creation of N75 billion National Youth Investment Fund for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
With regard to the enumeration of Nigeria police and other paramilitary services, the president said it is being upwardly reviewed.
He appealed to the protesters to take advantage of his administration various ‘well –thought-out initiatives’ designed to make their lives better and more meaningful. He urged them to resist the temptation of being used by ‘submissive elements’ to cause chaos with the aim to truncating democracy in Nigeria.
He said any action undermining national security would not be tolerated by his administration under any circumstances.
However, Nigerians have expressed disappointment over the president’s speech, describing it as self praise, diversionary and devoid of concrete solutions to the agitations of young Nigerians.
Many prominent individuals including Pastor E.A. Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Rev Mathew Kukah, the Bishop of Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Hillary Clinton, former US Secretary of states, Joe Biden, US former Vice president have strongly condemned shootings of the unarmed protesters by Nigerian Army and expressed deep condolences to victims’ families.
Nations of the world that have also showed concerns for the ugly happenings in Nigeria include United States, United Kingdom as well as world organizations like European Unions and United nations.
