BY Ayodele Oluwafemi
Femi Adesina, presidential spokesman, says the #EndSARS protests would have snowballed into a state of “crimson, mourning and lamentation”, if not for the “restraint and tolerance” exercised by President Muhammadu Buhari.
In October, Nigerian youth took to the streets to protest against police brutality, while calling for the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the police.
Although, the #EndSARS protests was peaceful at the initial stage, it took another dimension when suspected hoodlums attacked peaceful protesters and armed men in military uniforms shot at protesters at the Lekki tollgate area of Lagos state.
In an article titled: “We Have Not Many Fathers”, published on his personal website, Adesina said the president played a fatherly role during the protests.
He said the #EndSARS protest was “hijacked and misdirected” despite the acceptance of the five demands of the protesters by the federal government.
“If President Buhari hadn’t exercised the restraint and tolerance of a father, at a time that even hitherto respected people instigated the protesters to carry on (and they promptly went underground when anarchy ensued), we would have been talking of something else in the country,” he wrote.
“The rivers of Nigeria could have turned crimson, and mourning and lamentations would have suffused the land. But we are thankful for the father in President Buhari, patient and enduring, almost to a fault.
“All the five original demands made by the legitimate protesters were accepted by government. What better display of accommodation and readiness for dialogue. But the protest was prolonged, and eventually hijacked and misdirected. But thank God for fathers, who kept their heads. No wonder it is said that what the elders see sitting down, young people would not see, even if they climbed trees.”
He further said that the country is enjoying peace because “fathers like Buhari” maintained calm in turbulence.
Adesina wrote: “May God continue to give this country good fathers, who remain calm in turbulence, who keep their heads when others are losing theirs. Yes, we have many tutors, many instructors, but not many fathers. President Buhari is one, and that is why the country is experiencing relative calm today.”
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