Former head of state General Olusegun Obasanjo has appealed to both the government and the protesting youths to exercise restraint and to give peace a chance.
According to him, “we are at a critical moment in this crisis and Mr. President must act now before it is too late. This time demands leadership and mature leadership as such.”
In a two-page statement issued Wednesday, the two-time head of state said, “the shooting and murder of unarmed protesters, no matter the level of provocation, has never been effective in suppressing public anger and frustration. Instead, such actions only reinforce the anger and frustration of the populace and close the window of dialogue and peaceful resolution.”
He appealed to “president Muhammadu Buhari, in his capacities as president of Nigeria, commander in chief of the armed forces and as a parent of youth like the ones who have in the last week come out in peaceful protest against police brutality and for improvement in their lives and their living conditions, to restrain the military and other security agencies from using brute force as a way of ending the crisis.”
He said most of the demands of the protesting youths “are not unreasonable and can be met without anyone’s political interest or ambition being threatened. It is imperative that leaders at all levels, starting with Mr. President must demonstrate meekness, humanity and sincerity in meeting the legitimate demands of the protesters and ensuring that justice is served where it must be served.”
Obasanjo described the times as “yet another moment when our nation is on the edge of a cliff”, and said, “individual and collective actions now and in the next few days will determine where we will go as a nation.”
To the youths, he said they “must give peace a chance while making their legitimate demands. They must be mindful of miscreants who will infiltrate their ranks and give the protests a bad name only so that trigger happy forces will kill them.”
Telecoms operators apologise for network outage
The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) on Wednesday said some of its members were experiencing network outage, which was affecting the quality of services provided to subscribers.
In a statement in Lagos, Mr Gbenga Adebayo, the President of ALTON, on behalf of its members, appealed to subscribers to bear with them.
The ALTON President said that unfortunately, some of its member operators experienced outages on their networks on Tuesday evening, which still subsisted adding that none of it was intentional.
Channels TV back on Air
Channels TV has suddenly gone off air, without explanation. A programme was on, where the field reporters were reporting live. One of the reporters’ video started shaking as if disturbed before he was taken off air.
