Aisha Reveals How FG Frustrated Negotiations With #EndSARS Protesters

The Federal Government led by President Muhammadu Buhari, made negotiations with #EndSARS protesters impossible by coming up with different excuses, Aisha Yesufu, a Nigerian socio-political activist, and co-convener of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) movement.

Naija News reports that Mrs. Yesufu who is one of the prominent faces of the #EndSARS movement for police reform, made this comment on Sunday in a virtual interview with academic and historian, Toyin Falola.

The #EndSARS promoter insisted that #EndSARS protesters were ready to dialogue with the federal government before violence erupted in the country but the latter frustrated the conciliatory efforts.

Her words: “On the 19th of October, a week after the 5/5 demand, the #EndSARS protesters put out what has been done, they put out the things that needed to be done, what they wanted now, what they wanted in the short to mid-term and what they wanted in the short to long term.

“So, there was leadership; they were coming to the negotiation table. It was the government that made all sort of excuses. I will tell you candidly that it was the Nigerian government that didn’t have leadership and up till now, the Nigerian government hasn’t shown any leadership, it’s not the #EndSARS protesters.”

Yesufu also said the over two weeks nationwide demonstration was not infiltrated by hoodlums as said by the government.

“Many people say that the #EndSARS protest was infiltrated and I say categorically to them, the #EndSARS protest was never and hasn’t been infiltrated. What happened was that government brought in thugs, government-sponsored thugs came and attack #EndSARS protesters. These thugs were brought in military vans, in police vans.

“While that was going on, the police refused to do anything, they stood by. When the #EndSARS protesters were able to apprehend them and handed them over to the police, the police refused to arrest them,” she alleged.

The co-convener of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) movement also condemned the freezing of the bank accounts of #EndSARS promoters by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Last month,  the #EndSARS demonstrations led to the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad  (SARS) of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF). After the scrapping of SARS, Mohammed Adamu, the Inspector-General of Police, came up with the Special Weapons and Tactics team as a replacement for the scrapped police unit.

The #EndSARS protests later turned bloody nationwide when rampaging hoodlums took to the streets and wreaked havoc on lives and properties in the country.