Oladotun Ogunleye, Director of TIB USA, in a statement on Wednesday said Nigerians were afraid of the now disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad operatives more than they are of armed robbers and pay higher ransom to officials of the defunct police unit than kidnappers.
The United States of America chapter of the Take It Back Movement has called for reinforcement of the #EndSARS protest that is springing up across different cities in Nigeria.
Oladotun Ogunleye, Director of TIB USA, in a statement on Wednesday said Nigerians were afraid of the now disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad operatives more than they are of armed robbers and pay higher ransom to officials of the defunct police unit than kidnappers.
The statement reads, “We disagree with President Buhari's call for calm in the wake of these protests against police brutality and intimidation. For the avoidance of doubt, the Buhari administration has promised and issued several orders to reform the SARS to no fruition. There is therefore no reason to believe this latest 'order'. We are all in this country when President Buhari said he was surprised that former IGP, Ibrahim Idris, disobeyed his order regarding the violence in Benue. The IGP ignored the presidential order and nothing happened.
“We call on Nigerians not to believe what the government says but to continue to demand affirmative action to #EndSARS. As a pro-democracy group, we are convinced this groundswell protest is a much needed elixir to cure Nigeria of irresponsive and irresponsible leadership. We call on Nigerians to take back their country from vagabonds in power.
“We must not care about what they say; only about what they do. Without any clear action to end police brutality, we call on Nigerians to continue with the protests. Our engagement with Nigerians since this protest started shows that Nigerians are even afraid of the SARS operatives more than they are of armed robbers and many believe Nigerians pay higher ransom to SARS operatives than even kidnappers.
“A situation like this does not call for calm, it calls for #RevolutionNow. Only a leader that is detached from reality will call for calm. We therefore condemn President Buhari's call for calm and urge Nigerians to continue to troop out to join the peaceful protests against police brutality in Nigeria. If nothing else, the violent response of the police to the peaceful protests is a convincing reason to sustain them. As of now, at least, one person has been confirmed dead and several other protesters are in hospital with varying degrees of gunshot wounds.
“We need no prophet to tell us therefore that Buhari's latest order will yield desired fruit. We commend several celebrities that have lent their voices to and even joined in these protests. History will be kind to them. We urge those who are still sitting on the fence to join us to take back Nigeria.”