Read!: You Negotiate With Terrorists, Dialogue With EndSARS Protesters - Falana
A human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has urged the Federal Government to dialogue with #EndSARS protesters and actualise their demands.
According to him, if the government is negotiating with terrorists and kidnappers, it should also negotiate with the protesters.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who spoke on Wednesday night during a television programme in Lagos, also asked the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, to order his men to protect #EndSARS protesters from being attacked by armed thugs.
Thousands of youths across the country have in the last one week been protesting against the harassment and extrajudicial killings perpetrated mainly by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigeria Police Force.
The police authorities have since disbanded the unit and announced the Special Weapons and Tactics unit as its replacement.
However, the protests have continued with many demanding for more reforms.
Speaking on Wednesday night, Falana said,
“I will like to call on the government to stop allowing armed thugs or hoodlums to attack protesters who have composed themselves peacefully, maturedly and patriotically.
“If everybody had recognised that these young men and women had played positive roles in drawing the attention of government and the authorities to the crisis in Nigeria, they should not be attacked by anybody. In fact, the law says protesters shall be protected by the police.
“The Police must protect protesters.
“The President has a duty today to reconstitute the Nigerian National Human Rights Commission.