Political activist and human rights advocate, Aisha Yesufu, has accused the Nigerian government of acting like terrorists by killing its own citizens during the 2020 EndSars Protest.
Yesufu made this statement on Monday while responding to questions during an interview on ‘Prime Time’, a programme aired on Arise Television.
She was reacting as Nigerians marked the fifth anniversary of the EndSars victims.
It will be recalled that several Nigerians lost their lives during the protest at the Lekki Toll Gate, where security operatives allegedly opened fire on demonstrators.
In her reaction, the co-founder of the BringBackOurGirls campaign said, “When a shooting was going on, a young man across me flinched as soon as those guns started going away and it’s just something that evokes such a very heartbreaking memory and that Nigeria could do such to its young ones.
“The protest didn’t die down, rather it was killed off. Guns were brought in. We saw military officers who ordinarily should be protecting Nigerians and the territorial integrity of Nigeria decided to turn their guns on citizens; Nigerian youths who were merely reciting the national anthem and also waving the Nigerian flag.
“It’s such a painful memory and like I was saying that when a police officer or any security agency said they would kill and nothing would happen, indeed on 20-10-2020, without any doubt we came to see that yes indeed, they can kill Nigerians and nothing would happen.
“It’s really so sad that the Nigerian government, like I have always said, decided to behave like a terrorist government by killing its own citizens on 20-10-2020.
“Young people owned the protest and were very organised, and the police still came out to shoot them,” she said.
