Richard Ginika Izuora
Renowned American singer, Alicia Keys, actress Kerry Washington, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter Opal Tometi, climate activist Greta Thunberg and 62 others have written President Muhammadu Buhari.
In the letter, they demanded for justice for those allegedly attacked by Police and others who were jailed for taking part in the #EndSARS protests against military and police brutality in October.
The group includes a number of activists, politicians and celebrities connected with the Black Lives Matter movement, CNN reports.
Other notable signatories were Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), actors Mark Ruffalo and Danny Glover; as well as writer, Afua Hirsch. The group signed an open letter calling for the ban on peaceful demonstrations to be lifted in Nigeria.
Their letter has asked Buhari to “allow Nigerians exercise their constitutional right to protest, and to release jailed protesters and journalists; as well as to return confiscated passports and government IDs and to unfreeze bank accounts.”
Also, the letter accused the Federal Government of leveraging unwarranted force against #EndSARS protesters.
“In the midst of a global pandemic, your people sought to bring peace and justice to their land, and they made Africa and its diaspora proud in doing so,” read the letter, which was published as an advertisement in The New York Times on Thursday to coincide with International Human Rights Day.
“Yet their peaceful requests were met with state-sanctioned violence and suppression; as your administration meted out unwarranted force against its own citizens.”
In October, waves of #ENDSARS protesters took to the streets in cities and towns across Nigeria. The campaigners called for the disbandment of the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and an end to police brutality. SARS has been variously accused of extortion, torture, kidnapping and extrajudicial killing.
The SARS unit was set up in 1992 to fight armed robbery and was given wide-ranging powers. Many of the officers did not wear uniforms or name tags. CNN reports that there were numerous complaints that they had now turned on the citizens and were perpetrating the very crimes that they were set up to combat.
On October 11, Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, announced that SARS would be dissolved; adding that its officers would be redeployed. However, this move did not go down well with the #EndSARS protesters who insisted on other demands.
After the protests, the Central Bank of Nigeria obtained a 90-day court order; freezing the accounts of those who took part in the demonstrations. Also, a journalist who covered the protests was arrested and detained for five days before being freed on bail.
Meanwhile, CNN says its investigation, corroborated by government CCTV footage; into a particularly bloody incident at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos on October 20; showed soldiers fatally fired into a crowd of protesters.
The group insisted in its letter to Buhari that all military personnel found responsible for this incident should be held accountable; adding that a “transparent” and an “independent” investigation must be conducted into what happened.
“As people who have supported the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States and throughout the diaspora; we cannot be silent when similar atrocities take place in African countries,” the letter added; concluding that Nigerians and Africa “deserve better.”
In the aftermath of the Lekki shooting, the Nigerian Army denied any involvement; describing reports of the incident as “fake news” before backtracking and saying that soldiers were present; adding that they fired their weapons in the air using blank and live rounds.
An eight-person judicial panel has been set up to investigate police brutality and what happened at the Lekki toll gate. On Wednesday, Buhari tweeted that the foreign press coverage of the #ENDSARS protests was not balanced.