United Movement for New Nigeria has faulted the claim by the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai, that the EndSARS protests were a ploy to discredit the President Muhammad Buhari-led government, incite the public against the army, and set the nation on fire.
Buratai had on Monday, through the Acting Director Army Public Relations, Sagir Musa, stated: “Right from the onset of the ENDSARS protests, the army has been aware of the grand design by the sponsors of the protests to draw it into the crisis. The plan was to embark on massive propaganda to discredit the military and the government, so as to set the people against the army once it is called out to aid the civil authorities.”
But speaking to The Guardian in Owerri yesterday, the national spokesperson of the group, MacDonald Enwere, described the statement as laughable, worrisome, and a diversionary gimmick.
It said: “We view such a statement by the Nigerian army as not only dishonest but a tragic embarrassment. It is indeed laughable and worrisome that after launching a crocodile war against the unarmed innocent Nigerian youths, the army turned back to label the peaceful protest a plot by subversive elements to destabilise the country.
![[FILE] A proterster raise the Nigerian national flag along with an EndSars flag during a protest to commemorate one anniversary of EndSars, a protest movement against police brutality at the Lekki tollgate in Lagos, on October 20, 2021. – Hundreds of youth match to commemorate one year anniversary of Endars protest that rocked the major cities across the country on October 20, 2020. (Photo by PIUS UTOMI EKPEI / AFP)](https://www.afriupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/000_9Q26WJ-scaled-e1643856450254-120x86.jpg "FG gets #EndSARS report two years after, promises implementation 3")
“It remains an indisputable fact that the protest was a spontaneous ventilation of displeasure by the Nigerian youths against misgovernance and leadership summersault in the country.”
ALSO, the New Nigeria Network (NNN) has demanded the immediate replacement of all service chiefs.
According to the group, there is no basis for the service chiefs to still remain in office after much military brutality on the citizens of the country.
This is coming after the October 20 shooting of unarmed protesters by suspected soldiers at Lekki Toll Plaza, Lagos.
While addressing newsmen yesterday on why the struggle must continue, the group, led by Adesina Ogunlana, said the #EndSARS protests would not end “until it has fulfilled its mission.”
The protest, he added, is evolutionary and revolutionary at the same time.
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