By Perez Brisibe, Ughelli
The youths in a statement yesterday by the NDYC coordinator, Comrade Israel Uwejeyan and secretary, Raymond Alaibe, said they are disassociating themselves from the violent protests and described the perpetrators of the lootings and burnings as criminal elements and hijacked the genuine course of the #ENDSARS protesters.
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They also drummed support for the agitations of what they described as the genuine demands of the #ENDSARS protesters including the need to reform the Nigeria police system and the country’s approach to governance as well as the need for government and the international community to thoroughly investigate and prosecute anybody found culpable in the October 20 Lekki tollgate shooting.
The statement reads, “We vehemently condemn in totality the looting and destruction of public and private properties in some parts of the country and the nation at large, as this will further cripple our economy and create more unemployment for the youths.
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“The NDYC condemns and disassociates itself from every violent protest carried out in our region and we called on our members to leave the streets when we observed that the protest was being hijacked by unscrupulous elements as we cannot tolerate chaos or anarchy in our region or nation.
“We also commend the Coalition of Northern Groups, CNG, for intervening to stop religious bigots who wanted to turn the protest into bloody religious and ethnic crisis and call for calm across our region and nation as it is time for us as youths to sheath our swords, go back to the drawing table, synergise and start engaging our governments and representatives strategically to demand transparency and good governance.”
