After nearly 48 hours of failing to address Nigerians on the killings of peaceful unarmed protesters by men of the security forces, President Muhammadu Buhari made a speech which analysts say was notable for what it did not say than what it did.
Peaceful protesters who were demanding an end to police brutality were shot at by men of the Nigerian military at the Lekki toll gate Tuesday, an action that has drawn widespread condemnation of the Nigerian government.
The President’s speech, which was expected to address the many questions trailing the killings like who gave the orders, as well as sympathise with Nigerians, was labelled underwhelming by analysts.
“What Nigeria’s president seems to have taken from the escalating #EndSARS movement is that it’s a mistake for the government to give any ground whatsoever,” said John Asbourne, an emerging markets analyst.
That is “very worrying, as it suggests he sees a violent crackdown as the way forward. Note also, no real remorse for recent violence,” Asbourne said.
President Buhari in his recorded broadcast said the protesters misconstrued his promptness to meeting their demands to disband the rogue police unit, SARS, for weakness.
According to the President who spoke during a recorded broadcast, the request of the protesters, including the disbandment of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) and the reform of police, were already being worked on by his administration hence, there was no need for the protesters to continue.
“As a democratic government, we listened to, and carefully evaluated the five-point demands of the protesters. And, having accepted them, we immediately scrapped SARS, and put measures in place to address the other demands of our youth,”
“On approving the termination of SARS, I already made it clear that it was in line with our commitment to the implementation of extensive Police reforms.
“Sadly, the promptness with which we have acted seemed to have been misconstrued as a sign of weakness and twisted by some for their selfish unpatriotic interests,” Buhari said.
Various international bodies across the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Nations, have all condemned the October 20th killings by men of the Nigerian armed forces, urging the president to take control of the matter and bring those behind the killings to book.
While responding to the calls by foreign bodies to act on the killing, President Muhammadu Buhari said they should get all relevant facts before giving their judgements on the matter.
“To our neighbours in particular, and members of the international community, many of whom have expressed concern about the ongoing development in Nigeria, we thank you and urge you all to seek to know all the facts available before taking a position or rushing to judgment and making hasty pronouncements,” Buhari said.
Technocrats as well as analysts who spoke to BusinessesDay have described the speech as a deliberate act of looking down on the killings.
“The President’s speech was essentially a middle finger to Nigerians,” Cheta Nnwaze, Lead Partner at SBM Intelligence said.
“In saying nothing of note, and refusing to show any empathy for the plight of the people he purports to govern, he has alienated a generation that is really motivated by high youth unemployment and a sharply rising cost of living. I suspect that the protests will continue in another form when the curfews are lifted. We may be entering into a winter of discontent,” Nnwaze told BusinessDay.
Remi Adekoya, a Political Science lecturer at University of York said “key line for me was Buhari saying his government’s “prompt response to #EndSARS demand was misconstrued as a sign of weakness. That says it all,” Adekoya said.
Olalekan Aworinde, Senior Lecturer, department of economics, Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, said the President’s speech was rather too late and it appears to be casting aspersions on the masses.
“No one is expecting the President to tell us the policies initiated to alleviate poverty. There are myriads of these policies over the years with poor implementation.What the masses expect from the President is more calmness and saying sorry for coming so late to give a state broadcast,”
“It is rather too late, if truely the Presidency respect and cares for the masses they ought to have come out on time and appease Nigerians.I was also expecting the President to discuss the Lekki toll gate genocide and how he will visit families of those that lost their lives in the ENDSARS protest,” Aworinde said.
According to Aworinde, emphasis should not be on economic issues such as policies to be implemented but on humanitarian ground.
Kabiru Adamu, a security and intelligence risk manager, said he expected a statement of empathy, hope and assurance. He noted that Nigeria has a President whose style of handling issues is different.
“I’m hoping that the directive the President gave the security chiefs at their meeting earlier today, going by his address is to secure people’s lives and properties of Nigerian”, he said.
