…As Governors meet Wednesday over security, defunct SARS, looting***
Centre for Credible Leadership and Citizens Awareness in coalition with 62 CSOs and NGOs on Tuesday appealed to youths to step down plans for a second #EndSARS protest.
Dr Nwambu Gabriel, who spoke on behalf of the coalition, made the call at a news conference tagged “#EndSARS Protest: Reading Between the Lines, Truth, Facts and Fantasies’’ in Abuja.
“We want to appeal to the very articulate and hard-working Nigerian youth to dissuade all attempts by clandestine groups to make them return to the streets a second time.
“We urge them to embrace dialogue with government for a long-lasting peace in Nigeria.”
Gabriel said the group decided to conduct an inquest on the ENDSARS demonstration and the climax of the #EndSARS protest.
He said that the call became imperative because of the allegation that the #EndSARS protest was politically motivated and funded both locally and internationally.
He alleged that the sole aim was to spur sentiments from citizens with the ultimate goal of destabilising the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“We would want to reemphasise that our coalition believes in the sanctity of human life and the fact that every life is equal before our Creator.”
He also urged citizens to thread with caution on the narrative of the Lekki Toll Gate killing.
In a related development, the 36 state governors will on Wednesday meet to review the internal security situation in Nigeria and the status of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), whose activities led to the recent nationwide protests.
The Head, Media and Public Affairs, Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Mr Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, in a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday, said that the forum’s 21st teleconference would start by 2pm.
Bello-Barkindo said that the governors would also discuss issues arising from the Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) palliatives launch cum distribution.
He said that the forum would also discuss the subsequent indiscriminate looting of various warehouses throughout the country, which resulted from the protests.
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“As usual, the Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi, will remark on the most contemporary issues affecting the country since the last teleconference.
“In this regard, the Ekiti State governor will be addressing his colleagues on several issues including a feedback from the Villa on the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) counterpart funding as schools are beginning to reopen nationwide.”
He added that Fayemi would also address the governors on the 50th anniversary of AREWA which took place in Kaduna over the weekend.
Also on the agenda, according to Bello-Barkindo is the HORASIS meeting with the president, an international think-tank group and investment promoter, which is a partnership between the NGF and HORASIS, a management consultants’ consortium.
The meeting is also expected to set up a strong Foreign Direct Investment initiative for the country, a webinar on privatisation to be jointly driven by the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NGF and the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission among others.
He noted that there would also be a presentation on the Digital Curriculum Initiative for Basic and Secondary Education ingeniously tagged the e-Gamma solutions ltd, during the governors’ teleconference.
Bello-Barkindo added that there would also be updates on the States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability programme as well as from the Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa Committee which liaises between the Presidential Taskforce (PTF) on COVID19 and the NGF.
