SOUTHERN and Middle-Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF) has condemned the ongoing persecution of those it described as “all the innocent young Nigerians” without trial by the Muhammadu Buhari-led regime on account of participating in the #EndSARS protest, warning that the regime, in doing so, was sowing another seed it would not be able to handle the harvest when the fruits are ripened.
SMBLF gave this warning in a joint statement issued on Wednesday by Mr Yinka Odumakin for South-West, Chief Guy Ikokwu (SouthEast), Senator Bassey Henshaw (South-South) and Dr Isuwa Dogo (Middle-Belt), a copy of which was made available to the Nigerian Tribune.
The Forum said the warning became imperative against the backdrop of branding #EndSARS protesters as “terrorists,” report that the various jail houses across the country were filled with them as well as reports that their leaders and supporters were being prevented from travelling and alleged seizures of their travelling documents and freezing of their bank accounts without a court order, among others.
SMBLF, while demanding the release of all those arrested or their being charged to court without delay and a halt be put at the inquisition going on, warning that it was an ill wind that could blow no good, said what the country needed now was genuine engagement and facilitating a healing process starting with the renegotiation of the union into a conducive one that could guarantee the happiness of the greatest majority of people of Nigeria.
“We stand with all the innocent young Nigerians that the regime is persecuting without trial at this moment, without flinching as our laws deem every accused person innocent until convicted by the law.
“We are fully persuaded that the regime is sowing another seed that it would not be able to handle the harvest when the fruit comes, as we demand the release of all the arrested or their being charged to court without delay.
“We also demand a halt of the inquisition going on as it is an ill-wind that can blow no good.
“What Nigeria needs now is genuine engagement and facilitating a healing process starting with the renegotiation of the union into a conducive one that can guarantee the happiness of the greatest majority.
“Mafia means and state terror cannot give good outcome as we have gone past that stage,” the Forum said.
SMBLF, in its statement entitled ‘You can’t kill #ENDSARS with terror’, SMBLF told Buhari that it did not miss the projection when it interpreted President Buhari’s regrets of his accepting the #ENDSARS demands quickly as being seen as a sign of weakness in his last broadcast as a declaration that he would thereafter bare his fangs and ruthlessly deal with the protesters after the unwarranted and wicked killings of some of them at Lekki tollgate and other places.
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“In a clear demonstration that the people, except those who fawn around him have forfeited the confidence of his government, we have not missed all the divisive and repressive steps the Federal Government has taken so far after the dust settled,” SMBLF said.
This was just as the group of leaders denounced the emissary led by the Chief of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, being sent by the Federal Government “round the non-Arewa sections of the country with a script to manipulate support for the ruthless killings of our young people and the barbaric desire to clamp down on social media as we have seen in the communiques of the safaris to the SouthEast and South-West.”
The Forum, while saying it was not impressed by such move, describing it as belated and afterthought measure, noted that it saw the denial by Oyo State governor, Mr Seyi Makinde, that the South-West did not canvass the clampdown on social media at the recent parley between the governors and royal fathers from the region as well as the Federal Government’s delegation as “a signal that the footsoldiers of the regime are deceiving themselves to colour the good points our people made at those sessions with the stinking propaganda of deluded colonial lords in Abuja.
“Let us state clearly first that we are not in any way impressed by the belated and afterthought measure of sending some Kaduna delegates like the Chief of Staff and the IGP round the non-Arewa sections of the country with a script to manipulate support for the ruthless killings of our young people and the barbaric desire to clamp down on social media as we have seen in the communiques of the safaris to the South East and South West.
“We see the denial by Oyo State governor, Mr Makinde that the SouthWest did not canvass the clampdown on social media as a signal that the footsoldiers of the regime are deceiving themselves to colour the good points our people made at those sessions with the stinking propaganda of deluded colonial lords in Abuja.
“If we had a proper government, what should be happening now is proper healing and ensuring we do not have to go through that route again,” it said.
The leaders noted that what they had started noticing in respect of branding the #EndSARS protesters as “terrorists,” report that the various jail houses across the country were filled with them, among others, was as if the Federal Government was already implementing what they termed “the unreleased decisions of the sectional and divisive Kaduna meeting.”
The Forum challenged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele, for labelling the #EndSARS protesters terrorists, saying the apex bank governor “should have a proper definition of terrorism serving a government that was once accused of paying three million Euros to Boko Haram by WSJ and whose governors pose every now and then with bandits they are cuddling.
“We want to know when the CBN governor’s brief added political affair to monetary issues. We want to use Mr Emefiele as a point of contact to all those who lose their heads serving temporary power that it would end one day and they would be back to their roots,” the Forum stated.
SMBLF, while expressing its displeasure at the reports that the Federal Government was preventing leaders and supporters of the protest from travelling as well as reports on alleged seizures of their travelling documents and freezing of their bank accounts without court process, said this was happening at a time the Attorney-General of the Federation was asking United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities to give him the records of trials of six Nigerian Boko Haram funders convicted in that country by the highest court so he can certify whether justice was done or not.
According to the group of leaders, “we will be interested in knowing how money is wired to Boko Haram without the knowledge of our CBN,” maintaining that they stood by all the innocent young Nigerians that the Buhari regime was persecuting without trial at this moment as the country’s laws deem every accused person innocent until convicted.
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