National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno has said President Muhammadu Buhari will announce a ‘critical’ decision to address the #EndSARS protests in few hours.
Addressing State House Correspondents at the end of a National Security Council meeting, Mr Monguno said the gathering basically dwelt on one subject matter, “the current security situation that has come about as a result of the ENDSARS protests”.
Buhari has been accused of not addressing Nigerians even as the protests against police brutality and institutional rot, which started about two weeks ago has degenerated into deaths and violence across the nation.
Monguno expressed;
This situation, we all know is very very grave situation, giving a lot of concern to everyone most especially Mr President.
Mr President has directed that government should do whatever is necessary in order to bring about an agreeable resolution to this crisis.
So far, the government has been able to concede to the demands of the protesters. The initial demands have been considered and it appears now that the riots are taking a different and unwanted dimension.
He stated;
Mr. President is very concerned about this development and does not want a situation in which everything breaks down and results in anarchy, in lawlessness and people taking the law into their own hands.
For one thing, if government can begin to make concessions, then it’s also logical for the protesters, those that are aggrieved also to take a step back, take stock of their activities and come to a meeting point with government and its agencies.
Monguno noted;
It is not Mr. President’s desire to see any unwanted loss of lives and he is determined to ensure that things do not cascade into unpleasant situation.
Therefore, he has directed all the security agencies to operate within the confines of legitimacy, the confines of legality, not to do anything that will aggravate the situation.
He expressed;
The President himself, I have just left his office, is also going to deal with these issues in a specific manner apart from what has just taken place in council. I believe in the next couple of hours Mr. President will come up with certain solutions that will be agreeable to the entire federation.
Asked what the agreeable resolution will be, the NSA said;
Mr. President is going to look at each issue on its merit before coming up with the solution as the chief security officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Asked if the president was going to address the nation as requested by the National Assembly, Mr Monguno said: “I can’t actually divulge what was said but let’s just wait for Mr. President”.
Read Also: #EndSARS: Senate Asks Buhari To Address Nigerians
When asked if investigation was going to be carried out on the movement of troops to attack peaceful protesters at Lekki Toll Gate, the NSA said;
The government is looking into the incident that happened about 48 hours ago. You know, we can’t deal or act on conjectures, oppositions and so on and so forth. We need to verify things first. But the government is not oblivious of the fact that certain things had happened and there is also a possibility that actual facts could be distorted by either party. So, the government is going to look at that before coming up with something. But definitely, government is not treating this issue lightly.
