Activist, Aisha Yesufu, urges #EndSARS protesters not to back down

EndSARS protesters have been advised not to get distracted or drag down the ongoing protests against police brutality.

An activist actively participating in the protest and a co-convener of Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) movement, Aisha Yesufu, gave the advice in a video she posted on her Twitter handle, @AishaYesufu, on Wednesday.

She stated this in response to allegations that some of the voices leading the protest had compromised.

Unhappy with apparent unlawful arrests, torture, and extra-judicial killings by Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigerian Police, protesters, majorly youths have been on streets and major roads in different parts of the country demanding for an end to the operation of SARS.

After disbanding SARS on Sunday following the protests, the Federal Government on Tuesday set up the Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT) to replace SARS.

But the protesters, who are skeptical about the new police unit and do not trust the government to fulfill its promise to meet all their demands, have kept protesting.

However fearing that the allegation of some of the active voices being compromised could bring down the tempo of the protest, Aisha told the protesters:

“Dear Nigerian youths, you have the government when you want the government. You are doing amazing, you are doing something that we haven’t done.

“Please don’t get distracted over this issue of who is this, who is not what; eye on the ball —forget the distraction. There is nothing yet for you to go into fighting mode over. Focus on your message and the results that you want. That’s what is most important.

“Yes, we have seen the headlines from the government but have you seen the execution plan?

“Can the government bring an execution plan where we know A, B, C, D, this is what it will do from this time to this time, what will happen with time frame? That is what is most important.

Read also: Ganduje should be sentenced to death for collecting bribe —Aisha Yesufu

“A lot of people who are not being part of this protest as you will expect are trying to discredit it by talking about the protest being monetised. If anybody collects money for the protest, drag the person out, let those who didn’t collect money do their thing.

“If yours is monetised, another person isn’t monetised. I wonder why we want to drag things down. This is part of the things that had hurt the older generation and that is why we’ve remained divided and we have not had the country that works for all of us.

“Please don’t get distracted, focus on the issue. You are doing so great. You have woken up, you’ve found your voices and you have even given us also voices. #EndSARS now, #SARSMustEnd and we must have a great nation. Nothing else matters,” she said.

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