Senator Shehu Sani and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, have urged the #EndBadGovernment protesters to discontinue the nationwide protest to save lives and properties of citizens.
“With scores dead, hundreds injured and properties worth billions of Naira belonging to private businesses and government destroyed by hoodlums, mostly in Northern states, those wishing to encourage the continuation of this protest, especially in the North should reconsider. At our end, it’s violent protest without visible leadership and must be discontinued,” he tweeted.
He said though protest is a constitutional right of Nigerians, it should not pose threat to lives and property.
On his part, Adegboruwa called for indefinite suspension of the protest and urged President Bola Tinubu to address the nation and engage the protesters through their representatives.
According to him, miscreants have hijacked the protest and damaged peoples properties.
“I appeal to the protesters to withdraw themselves from their various protest grounds and to suspend the protests immediately and indefinitely, to give room for meaningful dialogue and engagement with the government.
“Given that the protests were said to have been hijacked by sponsored agents, it is necessary to avoid further losses and casualties.
“The organisers of the protests and their representatives should embrace dialogue with the government.
“I commend the people of Nigeria who trooped out in their large numbers to join the protests and those who stayed at home in solidarity by way of peaceful civil disobedience.
“No leader should ever take the people for granted. In the peculiar circumstance of the hunger and hardship being experienced by our people across the land, the protests were more than justified.”
“Notice of this protest was given many weeks ago, yet nothing was done to engage the organisers of the protests to address the issues raised in their charter of demands. It is the same way that the government ignores several strike notices issued by the Labour unions until they eventually snowball into strike actions. This should not be so.
“I, therefore, call upon President Bola Tinubu to directly address the nation and then engage the protesters through their representatives. Thereafter, the government should set up a committee comprising men and women of integrity to meet with the protesters to address the issues that they have raised,” he added in a statement issued on Friday.