Gbenro Adesina
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Wednesday October 21, 2020, condemned the murder of harmless and largely peaceful #ENDSARS protesters in Lekki and other parts of the country.
The Union stated that killings in the ongoing protest is crime against humanity, calling the United Nations to show serious interest in the descent to totalitarianism by the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government of Nigeria .
The Chairman, ASUU University of Ibadan (UI), Professor Ayo Akinwole stated that the Federal Government’s repressive attacks on the advocacy and demands for responsible and responsive governance by Nigerian youth showed that Nigeria was tending towards repressive military governance.
According to the ASUU leader, killing youths who were demanding for justice against brutality revealed that the security brutality of Nigerians is Federal Government agenda.
Professor Akinwole stated that it was a taboo for parents to bury their children in Yorubaland and in most cultures, adding that the President has committed a taboo.
ASUU stated that peaceful protest and demonstration are forms of political participation to bring about positive changes but regretted that the Buhari administration represses every voice of reason behaving like a military President.
ASUU lamented that Nigerian youths have not enjoyed anything good and were being deprived of funding in education, faced unemployment, and are worse hit by poverty.
Instead of learning how to be responsible and take care of people as shown by the organisational capacity of the #ENDSARS youth, Akinwole lamented that government tyrannically snuffed lives out of promising future leaders.
He then called for justice for all victims of Lekki genocide and others killed in other locations in the country, adding that the present crop of Nigerian leaders are low on empathy.
Akinwole stated that those who train their children abroad or who rush their children abroad for falling while riding multimillion naira motorbikes must be wicked to see children of hapless Nigerians murdered in cold blood.
He said, “The Federal Government should immediately stop the shooting, maiming, and brutalisation of our students and youth. We affirm their inalienable right to live, be alive, and express their aspirations peacefully as guaranteed in the Nigerian constitution and other international protocols on human rights including those of the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS), African Union (AU) and the United Nations”.
“In light of this, we call on members of the Nigerian political class, and government to rein in the thugs being unleashed on our students and the general public. There is documented evidence that this generation of students and youth in the current anti-police brutality protests is demonstrating extreme maturity as has never been seen in recent times. We commend them all, and urge that they do not be provoked into taking steps inimical to their peaceful objectives”, he concluded.
