Dear Acting President Osinbajo…
Nigeria was rocked by news of the presence of heavily armed, masked men of the Department of State Security Service at the National Assembly early Tuesday morning.
Many lawmakers had a field day using the development as an opportunity to trade blames and make bogus claims. Some even shamelessly had alcohol in the Senate chamber.
All these happened while President Buhari is in far away London, cooling his head to probably prepare himself for the physically tasking election campaign ahead.
Nigerians – partisans and non partisans – quickly placed the blame at the feet of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, whom Buhari had handed the baton to direct the affairs of the nation as he jetted out of the country five days ago. He had to be aware of the DSS operatives’ moves, surely.
As a result, the Acting President became the subject of intense trolling on social media, earning abuse for “attempting to sabotage Nigeria’s democracy”.
Whether the intense criticisms were enough to make the Acting President want to pull his hair out in anger or he dismissed them with his signature smile, Osinbajo, a pastor at RCCG, reacted anyway. He announced the immediate sack of DSS DG, Lawal Daura, and distanced the Presidency from the operatives’ takeover of the Senate building.
Osinbajo labelled the siege a “travesty” and “a gross violation of the rule of law”.
As expected, Nigerians reacted differently to the swift decision, but the general consensus, it appeared, was “kudos, Acting President”.
Dear Osinbajo, on the back of that swift decision, Nigerian citizens, particularly the youths, require a similar form of ‘protection’ from your government. They are being harassed, extorted, and killed everyday by those who have been tasked to protect them – the SARS unit of the Nigeria Police Force.
Your government, in which Buhari is principal, seems to be dismissive of citizens’ plights, and would only rather engage in a political power tussle with those agbada-rocking men walking aimlessly about in the National Assembly.
At what point would you make the IGP call his men to order and properly scrutinise their services to the people?
In a few months, your government will begin to roam the streets to canvass for re-election into office, but citizens continue to be left at the mercy of rampaging SARS officers. It is bad enough that their hopes of making something of themselves in Nigeria are hanging by a thread, don’t make their lives harder by letting irresponsible police officers roam freely.
Dear Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, #EndSARS. And please, pass the word to President Buhari when he calls you from Obodo Oyinbo. It is very important. Thank you.
