A child and girl-rights non-governmental organisation, Plan International, has condemned the use of force on peaceful protesters by security operatives at the Lekki toll gate protesting ground in Lagos.
In a statement issues on Thursday by Plan International’s Communications Advisor, Mr. Yunus Abdulhamid, organisation said the use of force on protesters is against “democratic norms.”
The statement further quoted Plan International Nigeria’s Country Director, Hussaini Abdu, as saying, “The use of brute force against young people who were exercising their rights to peaceful protest and making demands that could improve human rights and citizen participation is a huge draw back for a country that had experienced almost three decades of military authoritarian rule.
“It is antithetical to democratic norms and capable of plunging the nation into anarchy.
“This unacceptable of state violence could stifle youth voices and further shrink the already injured civic space It is a major threat to democratic culture that young people are beginning to demonstrate.”
He called on the public to avoid any form of violence and destruction of public property as “It not only derails developmental gains made by the country, but also presents opportunity for politicians with corrupt tendencies to further help themselves from the public till.”
Abdu called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the political leadership across the 36 states of the country to engage with young people and open up the political space for their effective participation, rather than the use of force as had happened in Lekki, Lagos on 20th of October, 2020. He added, “No nation can make progress when the most significant segment of its population is being brutalised by security operatives who are paid to protect them.”
