Former minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode has warned the Federal Government to handle the ongoing protest against police brutality with “utmost maturity and restraint and in a peaceful, rational and reasonable manner.”
Fani-Kayode said this in a post on his official Facebook page on Sunday in reaction to the announcement by the army to launch operation crocodile smile on Tuesday.
He said that the resolve of the youths to achieve a better Nigeria cannot be defeated with military force.
Thousands of youths across the country had taken to the streets over the past week demanding for an end to police brutality and highhandedness. The disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) by the IGP has done little to quell the demonstrations as it continues to garner support globally.
The statement in full:
We will not wait before more blood is shed before we speak and before we send out this warning.
We will not wait until there is another mindless and needless massacre and massive shedding of innocent blood by our security forces before we shout out.
We say this today, we say it without fear or favour and we say it for everyone, both friend and foe, to hear loudly and clearly: the determination to use brute force and to kill innocent young men and women in an attempt to crush this protest comes with a very heavy price tag and butchers bill.
The plan to deploy soldiers in our streets and to slaughter #EndSARS protesters in the same way that the Shiite Muslims and IPOB youths were once slaughtered by the military and security forces will be Lt. General Tukur Burutai and President Muhammadu Buhari’s biggest mistake and gravest error.
This must NEVER happen and if it is true that they are seriously contemplating it then they should reconsider and think again!
If for ANY reason whatsoever, they go ahead, it will turn the #Endsars movement into the #EndNigeria movement and no force or power in hell or on earth will be able to resist or stop it.
We warn again: do not unleash the dogs of war and demons of hell on these protestors. Do not kill these INNOCENT, HARMLESS and DEFENCELESS young men and women who have courageously embarked on a LAWFUL and PEACEFUL protest and who are doing nothing more than exercising their constitutional right of freedom of speech and freedom of association.
The consequences of going ahead and doing so, amongst much else, will be that you will end up in the International Court of Criminal Justice and be prosecuted for crimes against humanity and genocide in the not too distant future.
I say it again, do not bite off more than you can chew, do not beat the drums of armed conflict and do not let slip the dogs of war!
This matter can and must be handled with the utmost maturity and restraint by the Federal Government and in a peaceful, rational and reasonable manner.
These young men and women are fighting for their future: they cannot and will not be intimidated. The threat of mass murder or genocide or its actualisation will not stop them: rather it will embolden them and turn them into martyrs for democracy.
A word is enough for the wise!