***Use of lethal force by police, Army, DSS should not be contemplated
Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu should order the unconditional release of all arrested and detained hunger protesters by the police and other security forces, former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, has charged
Frank through a statement in Abuja on Sunday also called on the President to stop the police from further killings and use of lethal force against peaceful protesters.
He also condemned the antagonism of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, against the protesters and called on President Tinubu to sack him if he continues to treat Nigerian youths with disrespect.
His words, “Nigerians have inalienable rights to protest bad policies of government and call for changes to be made for the good of all.
“The ongoing protests are well intentioned, despite being hijacked by sponsored groups in some states, to paint the organizers of the protest and give the security forces an alibi to crackdown on them.
“But that should not be the case. The Abuja vacation judge who violated the rights of protesters to freedom of movement and expression by unjustly confining them to the Moshood Abiola Stadium and other public spaces in Lagos, equally ruled that the police and other security agencies should protect the protesters both in Abuja and other parts of the country.
“The failure of the security forces to adhere to this simple and unambiguous order of court who rather chose to obey the first leg of unjust confinement has resulted in the unjust killings, arrests, brutalisation and incarceration of protesters and above all hijack of the protests to perpetuate criminality by government sponsored agents.
“This must not be allowed to continue. The President must step in to genuinely protect the youths who are protesting. He must approach the protesters like a father does an angry child. After all, the youths have no other country to call their own.”
Frank who is the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) Ambassador to East Africa and the Middle East, also flayed the FCT Minister Wike for obtaining a jaundiced court order which sought to confine the protesters to the Abuja Stadium even as he praised the courage and gallantry of the demonstrators who promptly defied the order.
This evil order has led to peaceful protesters being tear-gassed by the police and the arrest and detention of countless number of them including harassment of journalists.
“This must stop. Any further act of aggression against the peaceful protesters by the Police and other security agencies may tip the scales and lead to resistance on the part of protesters,” he declared.
He called for close monitoring of the ongoing protests and the brutal reaction of the security forces by the international community even as he called on the US, UK and EU to place visa ban on the minister of the FCT and the chiefs of Police and the army who have been brutalising protesters.
While commiserating the families of those who have lost their lives and praying for quick healing for the injured, Frank called on the International Criminal Court to hold the Inspector General Police and all Service Chiefs in Nigeria accountable for the killing of unarmed protesters during the last few days of protests.
He also vowed to petition the ICC to prosecute Wike and the IGP for ordering police to teargas and shoot live bullets at unarmed peaceful protesters in Abuja and Kano respectively.
He told the Federal Government to refrain from using force against the protesters as “only dialogue and peaceful engagements can bring the much needed end to the protests.”