Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi said on Sunday that he was a victim of police brutality even as a governor while seeking re-election in 2014.
Fayemi, who said the #EndSARS protest embarked upon by the younger ones was a noble cause, which was believed would help the police to focus, said that there was a need for the governments to partner the youth for sustainable peace and development.
This was as the Minister of Trade, Chief Adeniyi Adebayo, assured Nigerians that the President, Major Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd), would implement the youth’s demands during the #EndSARS protest and as well the outcome of the stakeholders’ parleys.
Fayemi and Adeniyi, who spoke in Ado Ekiti during an interaction session with stakeholders’ on the recent EndSARS protest, expressed confidence that the judicial panel set up at the state and federal levels would tackle the issues and redress injustice done to the citizenry.
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The governor said, “I am a victim of police brutality myself. You can all recall what happened to me during my election of 2014. However, some policemen had also rendered good services to me, so not all of them are bad. Our police must be motivated to do well. Policemen must be well remunerated to be able to discharge their duties effectively”.
Fayemi, who said the youths were angry over sundry issues, said that the government had, however, “done many intervention programmes, proscribed SARS and introduced youth investment fund and many others as a response to the youth agitations.
“I commiserate with the families of those who paid the supreme price. We identify with them. The panels that we set up will look into the reasons behind the protest and how best to address the issues raised because #EndSARS protest had placed a moral burden on all of us that we must be vigilant,” he said.
Adebayo, who said that Buhari wanted to use the interaction to feel the pulse of Nigerians, advised the younger ones to always apply for any youth-oriented programmes being rolled out by the Federal Government and stop having the erroneous impression that they would not be enlisted as beneficiaries.
