The South west zone of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has issued an ultimatum to the Department of State Security (DSS) to release students arrested during the Revolution Now protests across the country.
Issuing a statement on Saturday, the students Union condemned the brutal treatment meted out to protesters by security agencies in Lagos, Osun, Abuja and Ogun.
The association vowed to lead a massive protest in the region if the detained protesters are not released on Monday, August 10, 2020.
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The students also expressed disgust at the way National affairs are being managed by the leadership of the country.
They questioned the fact that fuel prices have gone up and ordinary Nigerians did receive COVID-19 palliatives from the government despite repeated claims.
The students also questioned how the Federal Government spent the so called Abacha loot recovered from foreign countries.
The statement read;
“We find it disturbing that despite the fact that several international protocols guarantee human rights to protest, successive governments in Nigeria have not done enough in the aspect of respect for these rights.
“In Nigeria, dissent is criminalised. The ruling class aims to assume the position of the all-mighty; they do not want to be questioned.
The association having studied the demands of the protesters make bold to assert that they are legitimate, many of which we have also in our capacity as an association raised in a series of interventions since we came on board last year.
“Nigerians, especially in the North, are being killed like games by rising insurgency. Rate of poverty, hopelessness and unemployment is alarming. Education and health have been completely abandoned.
Corruption has taken over the entire administration, with rising foreign debt profile capable of compromising the nation’s sovereignty. Respect for democratic ideals of freedom, human dignity, rights and rule of law has been thrown to the winds.
The country has been subjected to the whims of jackboot absolutism.
These are legitimate issues raised by the #RevolutionNow protesters. But, the posture of the Nigerian government towards issues has shown that they would rather empower/embrace sycophancy than agree with those with dissent because they are not ready to be held accountable which is why there is always a clampdown on protests.
It is to this end that we demand that the government unconditionally frees the detained protesters.”
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