By Eric Elezuo
The Campaign Team of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has indicted his boss, President Muhammadu Buhari, on complicity over the October 2020 #EndSARS crises, which shook the entire southern Nigeria, saying the president erred as he treated the pre and post #EndSARS periods were treated with ‘kids’ gloves’.
The Team made the indictment in a 120 page campaign documentary on the Vice President titled The Unveiling – OSINBAJO IF EMPOWERED: An Impact Assessment Report.
In the introductory page with sub heading, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo: Now, Then and Before, the Team noted that “The EndSARS uprising would not have seen the light of the day if issues concerning human rights abuses from the SARS (Special Anti Robbery Squad) unit of the Nigerian Police Force had not been handled with kids’ gloves.”
The team noted in 2018, Osinbajo, as Acting President, has ordered the total overhaul of the SARS unit, following allegations of human rights violations and abuses. The VP had directed the then Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to review the operations of the outfit. But the exercise suffered a serious setback when Buhari reassumed duties.
“However, the clamour died down when the substantive president, Muhammadu Buhari, reassumed duties after a temporary absence. The SARS unit continued with their high handedness and human rights violations as a result of this seeming dissonance in bureaucracy, which for some Nigerians, represented a lack of empathy for Nigerian populace, but rather than admit their erroneous judgment on the SARS issues, many of our political elites remained in denial of the reality facing Nigerian youths on a daily basis,” the Campaign Team noted.
It will be recalled that in October 2020, Nigerian youths staged a protest that spiralled into a crisis when yet to be identified uniformed men reportedly opened fire on a group of unarmed protesters at the Lekki toll gate, a place said to be the flagship of the protests, on October 20, 2020.
