CSOs to FG: Military should remain in barracks till EndSARS protests end
On the heels of the on-going nationwide protests, a coalition of civil society organizations yesterday called on the Federal Government to prevail on the Nigerian Army to suspend its planned ‘Operation Crocodile Smile VI’.
This is even as another coalition of labour and civil society groups also cautioned the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai against facing the International Criminal Court, ICC, should any #EndSARS protester be killed by the military. The activists spoke on a day Osun State governor, Gboyega Oyetola, dismissed insinuations that his convoy was attacked by #EndSARS protesters, attributing the attack to those he described as thugs.
Still on the same issue, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, CBCN, argued yesterday that the dissolution of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, by the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Mohammed Adamu, would not end police brutality in the country, noting that the development was a sign of a failing state. Speaking against the backdrop of the protests in Abuja, the over 30 CSOs, including Centre for Democracy and Development, CDD, Enough is Enough and Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, condemned the military exercise as unacceptable, alleging it was designed to crush the civil protests.
The Army had said it would commence Exercise Crocodile Smile VI, which is usually conducted annually to checkmate the activities of criminals across the country during the ember months. It noted that this time, the military operation which would run from October 20 to December 31, would carry out cyber warfare operations to counter negative propaganda by criminal gangs and groups in social media and across the cyberspace.
CSOs warn Army But the CSOs unanimously warned that the Exercise Crocodile Smile VI would only serve to exacerbate the distrust of citizens and lack of confidence in the state and its institutions. So, they urged the military to withdraw the operation and remain in their barracks to defend the territorial integrity of the country until the #EndSARS protests abated. A co-convener who spoke on behalf of the coalition, Ezenwa Nwagwu, said: “In the last two weeks, the streets of Nigeria have been convulsing with protests and agitations. The clarion call as reflected in the multitude of young Nigerian voices is for an end to police brutality and all related abuses, which unaccountable policing has left in its wake.
“For the avoidance of doubt, these protests are legitimate, and young people who ignited the movement have a right to express their grievances using the weapon of protest. “While #EndSARS is focused on the immediate concern of a brutish policing system, the protesters are also inherently voicing their anger against a governance system which has failed to reckon with them. “#EndSARS is, therefore, an affirmation of citizen’s readiness to resist bad governance in all its ramifications, beginning with inadequate government response over the prolonged trend of police brutality.
“The accumulated anger of citizens over decades of failure in the delivery of basic social services, endemic corruption, and impunity of political office holders has precipitated distrust of, and lack of confidence in the state and its institutions. “These frustrations are visible in the pent-up anger, which has been boiling over in mass street protests in cities across the country. “Collectively, we affirm the validity of the protests, and the grievances driving the organization and mobilization of popular anger. Police brutality in particular, and the brutality of security, armed forces, and law enforcement agents towards citizens, in general, is a fact and a reality that cannot be contradicted.
“In this respect, we strongly condemn the thinly-veiled threat issued by the Military High Command, wherein the unacceptable move is being made to crush the peaceful protests. “Such a threat is ill-conceived in the face of legitimate citizens’ protest and a threat to constitutionally guaranteed rights. “We call on the military to immediately withdraw its ill-advised attempt to undermine the constitutional freedom of citizens to voice their displeasure about the state of the country. “We reject in its entirety the move to draft in the military to quell the protests, even where there has been no violent conduct on the part of protesters. ‘Let military remain in their barracks’
“The Military should remain in their barracks and at their duty posts, defending the territorial integrity of the country, and not deployed in a dangerous anti-people and anti-democratic operation to crush a people who are exercising their right to freedom of association, freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly. “It is important we state here that the commencement of the Exercise Crocodile Smile VI is ill timed and will exacerbate the distrust of citizens. “Equally, it is important to let the Nigerian authorities know that the entire world is watching its response to the legitimate demands of the youth.
“The world is watching the state-sponsored assault on the freedom of expression, and association of Nigerians in the forms of illegal bans on a protest by the governor of Rivers State [CO1] and the authorities in the Federal Capital Territory.
These bans are patently unlawful and constitute an ominous prelude to what we suspect would be a harsh clampdown on citizens. “The ongoing protests to end police brutality and compel sorely-needed reform of the police and policing, is thus a legitimate movement, raising legitimate concerns, making legitimate demands, and as such because the movement is exercising universally recognized and constitutionally guaranteed rights, the movement must be protected, and not repressed. Vanguard
