Let Peace and Justice Reign.
Our hearts are broken by the tragic events we are witnessing as the nation is being torn apart by our failures. Yet from the blood and ashes arise opportunities for the rebirth of our nation. We believe that Nigeria must now renew its promise as sung in the National Anthem’s second stanza:
O God of creation, direct our noble cause
Guide our leaders right
Help our youth the truth to know
In love and honesty to grow
And living just and true
Great lofty heights attain
To build a nation where peace
And justice shall reign.
These stirring words have never been more relevant or urgent.
EndSARS, initiated by Nigerian youth, is a metaphor: a means to voice pent-up frustration by our youth at the lack of access, negligence and flagrant abuses resulting in diminishing economic and educational opportunities available to them in this resource-rich country. This movement, the outrage at Lekki on October 20, 2020 and in days immediately following, and countless other violences and injustices which have passed in relative anonymity all these years, offer us a reflection, a clarity, an opportunity and a challenge. We stand with these young citizens, who insist only on basic civic decency to which our own reckoning and recommitment is long overdue. We stand with all who demand new norms of equity, accountability, and good governance and the abiding determination to put them into consistent practice.
Read Also: #EndSARS: IGP says Amnesty International report on shooting of protesters by police not true
We appeal to the Federal Government of Nigeria to commit, as promised, to:
1. acknowledge the pain of all who have lost loved ones to these acts of violence and compensate them appropriately;
2. identify and hold all perpetrators of all attacks on peaceful demonstrators at Lekki Tollgate, and elsewhere, accountable for their actions;
3. ensure human capacity development and education for all in current and future budgets and guarantee integrity in implementation; and
4. define timelines for implementation of all championed reforms.
With sincerity of purpose, all hands must join together in this moment to rebuild our great nation.
Let Peace and Justice Reign.
Signed:
Abimbola Okunsanya • Alva Klassen •Ayman Bakr • Ben Sproule • Charles Odugba
Chris Bishop • Chris Oyetunde •Colin Ray • Corrie Kern • Cynthia (Boer) Boyd • David Weeks Doosuur Victoria Tilley-Gyado • Gbemi Balogun Petersen • Grace Keith
Ijeoma Uwakwe-Okoronkwo • J. A. McDowell • J. Ihenacho • Jack Beeksma • Jennifer Rasch Karen Urhoma • Katy Fine • Kevin Boer • Kevin Ray • M R Seriki • Mark Burgess
Markus Lemke • Maryam Mayaki • Michael Magaji • Nathan Nyabam • Mrs Ngozi Enem Olayide Balogun • Oluwatoyin Adegbite-Moore • Nicholas M • Onche Rajesh Ugbabe
P. Benjamin • Rasheedat O. • Roshen Hendrickson • Rowena G. • Ruth S. Idakula • S. Jacobsen Sam Olima • Sarah Childs Lout • Susanne Adesola Gooding • Tim Sproule • Tracey Anozie Tsahai Gomwalk Jacobsen • Uzodinma Ezimora • Zahra Ugbabe
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