The Alaafin of Oyo, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of killing unarmed peaceful #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki toll gate area of Lagos State, Nigeria’s commercial city.
Naijakit reports that the Alaafin who spoke during the stakeholders meeting with the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde and other government officials at the House of Cheifs, Agodi Secretariat Ibadan, Oyo State, southwest Nigeria, said President Buhari’s failure to address the youths that protested at the appropriate time led to the loss of lives and destruction of properties in the country.
This online news platform recalls that soldiers of the Nigerian Army invaded a peaceful protest at Lekki toll gate on Tuesday evening, October 20, killing #EndSARS protesters in the process.
President Buhari addressed Nigerians on Thursday evening following the Lekki massacre of unarmed peaceful protesters at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial city.
During the speech, President Buhari failed to address the shooting of #EndSARS protesters by soldiers of the Nigerian Army but rather ordered that the protests against police brutality that rocked various cities across the nation before the Lekki massacre on Tuesday.
President Buhari said: “I, therefore, call on our youths to discontinue the street protests and constructively engage government in finding solutions.
“Your voice has been heard loud and clear and we are responding.”
Reacting to the deaths recorded and properties destroyed in the wake of the #EndSARS protests, the Alaafin said if President Buhari had addressed the protesters on time, the situation would have been well managed.
Alaafin said: “What we have witnessed today is the beginning of a phenomenal, it is the failure of the authority to rise to the occasion that led to the loss of lives and destructions of properties that we witnessed in the aftermath of the ENDSARS protests,” adding that the “youths have been denied of their rights, the peaceful protest of the youths have shown us the elders what we are lacking, they showed us through the protests that they are well organized, they have shown us comportment, they organized the protests to the amazement of all of us.”
The monarch continued that “one thing that is significant about the protests was the way the youths comported themselves during the protests, we saw the way they were waving the Nigeria flag, singing the national anthem, and every one of us was moved.”
Alaafin said, “the government at all levels must listen to those youths and also calm them down because the refusal of the government to listen to those children and address them led to the persistent protests, which resulted in the Lekki Toll Gate Shooting, that killed many of them, and this also led to the destruction of properties that happened almost across the nation.”
Speaking further, the Alaafin said the traditional institution has little role to play on the matter at hand, noting that “we can’t play a major role on the matter at hand, the State and Federal Government were not listening to the agitations of these children when they were calling on all of us, and that has resulted to what we have witnessed.
Meanwhile, the meeting was organized by the Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state, to discuss the demands of the #EndSARS protesters. Also in attendance of the meeting was the deputy governor, Engr. Rauf Olaniyan, the Deputy Inspector General of Police, DIG Leye Oyebade, the State Commissioner for Police, CP. Joe Nwachukwu Enwonwu, the Garrison Commander of the Two Division of the Nigeria Army, Barrister General. Soji Ogunsugba.
