Tinubu’s speech insensitive to the demands of protesters — Falana

Femi Falana, human rights lawyer, says the nationwide broadcast delivered by President Bola Tinubu on Sunday morning is yet to address the demands of the protesters.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) said a positive response to the key demands of the protesters who are largely youth, may make them review their actions.

“We call on the President to address the demands of the peaceful protesters. So far, the Presidential Speech falls short of addressing the key demand, which is common to all the lists of demands of various organisations and protesters in the street: reversal of the policy of withdrawal of fuel subsidy,” Falana said.

“If the government takes the fight against corruption to oil dealers and crude oil is processed in government-owned refineries, there will be no basis for fuel subsidy, which is induced by the importation of petroleum products,” the legal luminary said.

Falana hailed the demonstrators for conducting themselves and drawing the attention of the government to their plight by demanding good governance. He however called for the release of all arrested protesters.

“We demand the immediate and unconditional release of all protesters that were arrested and detained because they have not committed any criminal offence,” he said.

Falana decried the numerous attacks on peaceful protesters and harassment of journalists, calling on the police to perform their priority duty of protecting the lives of Nigerians.

“It is the statutory responsibility of the Police to protect protesters against thugs who are the creation of criminal neglect. The Police should not hide under the guise of attacking thugs to attack peaceful protesters,” he said.

“Apart from a few trigger happy police officers who had shot and killed protesters, the Nigeria Police Force has handled the protests in a professional manner,” the Senior Advocate of Nigeria said.

The human rights lawyer however commiserates with the families of the “patriots” peaceful protesters that were killed, urging the government to set up a commission of inquiry to investigate the killings and bring the perpetrators to justice.

“We call on the Federal and State Governments to set up Commissions of Inquiry, which should include representatives of credible human rights organisations and the NBA to investigate the killings with a view to bringing to justice prosecute the reckless murderers in Police uniform.

“The family members of the deceased should be adequately compensated by the federal government,” Falana said.