Protests: ‘Stop the killings’ – NLC to security operatives

The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has urged the security operatives across the country to stop the killing of citizens during the ongoing #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest.

This is contained in a statement by the President of the NLC, Comrade Joe Ajaero, stressing that security operatives should be deployed against bandits not where the citizens were peacefully protesting against the hardship in the land.

Ajaero said that one noticeable pattern was that once police personnel introduced violence, all hell broke loose in fulfilment of the credo that violence begets violence.

According to the statement, the NLC wants those officers with blood stains on their hands be fished out for appropriate disciplinary action with their commanders.

Comrade Ajaero also demanded adequate compensations for the families of casualties while the government should be responsible for the treatment and rehabilitation of the injured.

He further stated that all those arrested should be released immediately and unconditionally.

”We commend NBA national leadership for directing its human rights committees across the cities to be vigilant.

“We urge them to see to it that no one is held against their will in connection with the protest,” he noted.

Comrade Ajaero said on no account should the police use live ammunition in managing protests no matter how difficult they get.

”We look forward to a better crowd control mechanism even as the new directive from the IGP would sound to some of the personnel as a license to kill without reason.

“As we had stated in our statements of July 22nd and 23rd, the clearest path to a lasting solution is for the government to sit down with leaders of the protest and negotiate in good faith. Time is of essence as no one is impressed by the sophistry of government officials/hirelings or threats by the police or the military. We are all Nigerians, after all,” he maintained.

However, the Nigeria Police Force on Saturday denied killing protesters or anyone else during the ongoing #EndBadGovernance demonstrations in parts of the country.

The police were responding to a Friday statement by Amnesty International which accused security personnel of killing at least 13 people during the protest.