Deploying Soldiers Not The Answer, Buhari Should Address Nigerians – Afe Babalola

Legal luminary and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Afe Babalola, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to address Nigerians over the violence that has erupted in the country following the #EndSARS protests.

He made the call on Wednesday in reaction to the recent happenings across the country following the shooting of #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos.

“Protests against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, otherwise known as SARS or FSARS, have spread to all parts of Nigeria and beyond.

“The deployment of soldiers to the streets is not the answer. The imposition of curfews is certainly not the answer,” Babalola said in a statement.

He said that he had before now appealed to President Buhari to please address the issue at that time.

“I now again plead with him to address the root causes of the pain which the youths are complaining about,” he said.

“The use of live bullets and other lethal weapons against protesting youths is not the answer. The killing of protesting youths is also not the answer.

“A protest both in fact and in law is analogous to a message which an injured toe sends to the brain complaining about unbearable pain,” said Babalola in his reaction to the shooting of the protesters.

He added, “The response by the brain and the head is normally to take steps to treat the pain to the toe.

“Any injured person who refuses to take steps to treat pains to any part of the body does so at his own peril.”