President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday said the #EndSARS protests embarked upon by young Nigerians last October is ‘understandable’. He also restated the commitment of his administration to “fulfilling the five demands of our youths.”
Mr Buhari stated this in his New Year message to Nigerians early Friday.
The unit, SARS, has since been disbanded while over 20 state governments have set up judicial panels to invest human rights abuses the police.
Dozens of protesters and other Nigerians were also killed by security forces during the protests while many police officers were also killed, especially after the protests were hijacked by hoodlums following a government crackdown.
The clampdown on the protesters has been condemned by many Nigerians and civic groups including SERAP and Amnesty International with many saying the government was being hypocritical by clamping down on protesters while claiming to meet their demands.
On Friday, however, Mr Buhari restated his promise that his administration would meet the demands of the protesters.
“2020 indeed came with a lot of challenges ranging from security and economic issues across the regions to understandable protests that were mainly led by our youths and served notice to the demand for police reforms and accountability.