- Protesters demand public execution on corrupt Nigerian leaders.
Itunu Ajayi (Washington D.C)
Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States of America, Justice Sylvanus Nsofor has shunned protesters in the Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C area who had gone to his office to lend their voices to the recent killings at Lekki Tollgate in Lagos and the attack on protesters, and the killings, looting and arson in different part of the country.
The group had in their hundreds, on Wednesday, converged at the Nigeria House in Washington D.C located at 3519 International Court NW District of Columbia, to register their displeasure “on the recent massacre of Nigeria youths by the military who were protesting peacefully for good governance in Nigeria.”
The Ambassador however refused to step down from his office to address the protesters. Rather, he called in the Police, for reasons best known to him.
However, when the Police, who numbered about 20 arrived the Embassy, they created and covered up to 500 metres periphery of the diplomatic compound while the protest lasted. They also used their vehicles to barricade major entrances to the Embassy.
The group demanded justice for the youths who had fallen by the bullets of the Nigerian Army on Tuesday and those who had died prior as a result of the activities of the SARS group whose activities they were calling on the government of Nigeria to stop.
They also demanded for the amendment of the Nigeria Constitution to accommodate the participation of Nigerians in Diaspora in the electoral processes of those who will be leading Nigeria henceforth. They said it is high time Nigerian leaders knew that power resides with the electorate.
Addressing the gathering, Dr. (Mrs) Monreti Akinleye lamented on the inhumane attitude of Nigerian leaders towards their citizens.
She said failure of the government had inevitably made lots of Nigerian youths to get themselves involved in shady characteristics which were hitherto unlike Nigerians.
Her words: “They gave Nigerian youths bad names all over the world. They called Nigerian youths thieves, lazy people, prostitutes whereas it is these old fools that are giving our children money to become sugar daddy to them. We want the American President and every leader all over the world to know that Nigeria youths are very hardworking, handsome, beautiful and very resilient, very charismatic, very intelligent but our leaders had turned a lot of them into yahoo yahoo boys.
“It is only in Nigeria you will see a youth with Ph.D holder in Physics and he is either selling recharge cards or riding okada. They kept on getting more education so they will not be idle, no jobs, nothing. They will finish first degree, no job and they will go back for Masters, finish, no job and then go back for Ph.D, just not to be idle. At last they will still end up riding okada or danfo.”
She added that the purpose of the protest was to send a strong signal to Nigeria and the whole world that it will not be business as usual adding that Nigerian youths must be given their dues in the scheme of things.
The protesters opined that they were not surprised that Justice Nsofor disregarded them reasoning that even President Buhari who appointed him has not even deemed it fit to addressed Nigerians who elected him into office on the unfortunate occurrence.
In his response, Dr. Olusola Akinleye explained that what the youths demanded were their fundamental human rights, things their country should provide for them as a matter of right and not privileges.
His words, “These innocent youths were just demanding for good governance in Nigeria, they were demanding for their rights. These are things that responsible government should do without having to be compelled. Youths with very sound education are out there doing nothing, a lot had Masters degrees and more and yet they are doing menial jobs for survival. What kind of a country kills its future?”
“These youths said the elders had failed them, those who should talk had their mouths sealed, so they took it upon themselves to be heard but what did the country do in response to their yearnings, they were murdered in cold blood. There is no good road anywhere in Nigeria, a bag of rice is 45 thousand naira yet the minimum wage is 30 thousand, how do you reconcile that?”
Akinleye posited that if Nigeria cannot exist as an entity, then every region should be made to be on their own.
He made this analogy, “If two people are married and they could no longer agree to live together, they can agree to go their separate ways without any rancor. The amalgamation that birthed Nigeria is a forced one and it is not working. Our children were killed for protesting peacefully, no light, no water, no jobs, nothing. Security is another big issue in Nigeria, how long will all these be made to continue?”
The protesters condemned in “strong terms” the level of corruption in Nigeria and demand public execution on those who had stolen from Nigeria.
Roll call of Nigerians who had died in the hands of SARS operatives and those killed by the Nigeria Army were called with the demand for justice and an end to tyrannical rule in Nigeria.
Eighty-five-year old Nsofor, a retired Justice from Nigeria’s Court of Appeal, became Nigeria’s Ambassador to the US when he was aged 82.