The Canadian Association of Nigerian Lawyers has joined the list of individuals and groups condemning the recent murder of innocent Nigerians for merely expressing their constitutionally guaranteed rights of freedom to assemble, protest and make their grievances known to the authorities.
In a press statement made available to RootsTV, the current president of the body, Eyitayo Dada and former presidents, Kingsley Jesuorobo and Michael Dibua called for the intervention of the international community, asking them to prevail on the authorities in Nigeria to desist from violating the protected rights of its citizens. The group also called for the investigation and prosecution of all who have directly or indirectly participated in the violation of citizens’ rights in the last few weeks.
According to the body, the protests were triggered in the main by the numerous acts of police brutality against members of the general public which have over the years gone unattended to, leading to the emboldening and entrenchment of corruption in the system.
The group called the #ENDSARS protests “a symbolic manifestation and a microcosm of a catalogue of governance ills that have engendered bottled up discontentment amongst Nigerians at home and abroad.” It identified the ills as ranging from police brutality, extortion and extrajudicial killings to instances of administrative oppression.
It called for the adoption of a nationwide implementation of policies and guidelines that uphold and proclaim the rights and freedom of Nigerians from oppression and any other form of abuse by those in authority.
The #ENDSARS protests against police brutality and oppression turned violent earlier in the week following the alleged importation of thugs by persons believed to sympathetic to the government.
