A human rights activist has called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, revisit the 2014 Nigerian National Conference report and restructure the country for peaceful co-existence of the nation.

Jumu’ah Abiodun, who made the call in a statement, noted that the ongoing protest is far beyond police brutality, which has led to the #EndSARS protests nationwide, adding that it is actually people’s resistance of corruption and oppression by the ruling class who sees nothing wrong in stealing public funds.

He explained: “The youths are frustrated, the government must be careful with this protest not to end in #RevolutionNow. This is beyond #EndSARS, some of the youths are now clamouring for an end to corruption.

“The protest continues, the youths are getting stronger every day; N30 million has been raised within a few days by supporters, driving ambulance buses; doctors and nurses, and lawyers on standby to treat the injured and assisting to release arrested protesters.

Protesters are now walking miles with placards, deploying websites and bots, as well as #EndSARS Wikipedia.

“I don't know why our leaders are not ashamed of themselves? Minimum wage is N30, 000 and a bag of rice is over N30,000; petroleum price now at N162 per litre, food prices skyrocketed by 70 per cent. Nothing good is working for the citizens as corruption takes center stage; ASUU still on strike since over eight months.

“Seriously, present leaders have failed Nigeria; barracks look like dumpsites; Police buys uniforms, buttons, no (annual) leave, no insurance and political office-holders go home with millions of naira every month, and you don't want them to receive bribe? You are a joker.

“While we’re talking about corruption in Nigeria, President Buhari nominated his aide who is a card-carrying member of a political party to be (INEC) Commissioner in the nation's election umpire.”

The human rights journalist who said he’s a dedicated fighter for government accountability and justice had, earlier in his Nigeria at 60 message to Nigerians home and in the Diaspora, advised the Buhari administration to repeal Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) and Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to curb corruption.

“If we really want to be one, my advice will be good for the peace of the country, there’s an urgent need for any government who wants peace and wants to end corruption to stop ‘PEF’ with immediate effect, because those in the West don’t buy ‘yam, onions and pepper’ same price as they sell in the North; so why paying for PEF. PEF is just a fraudulent policy with which public office-holders are using to siphon public funds,” Jumu’ah noted.

He added: “Another loophole left open for the stealing of funds is the Niger Delta Development Commission. In the first place, for whatever reason NDDC might have been created, it’s clearly unnecessary. For construction or rehabilitation of roads in the region, Ministry of Works should do that. And for the cleaning up of the Ogoni oil spill, the Ministry of Environment fits in.”

The activist faulted IGP Mohammed Adamu for pronouncing Special Weapons and Tactical Team (SWAT) so quick: “Pronouncing SWAT to replace the dreaded SARS within four days of the dissolution of SARS, when the whole world still protesting against injustice, police brutality in Nigeria is a wrong shot by the IGP and the Presidential Panel on Police Reform.

“What we need is total police reform where citizens can record police officers activities on the road without no fear or violence; then we can have a decent policing environment; and provision of genuine life insurance for the police as well as good salaries at par with political office holders.”

The human rights journalist chides the Presidency for blaming previous administrations for their lapses. “What we voted for is the government who promised to do better than previous administrations, not to blame previous governments.”

“For record purposes, PDP did not establish SARS as claimed by some quarters, Simeon Danladi Midenda (retd) formed SARS when late Col Ezra Rindam of the Nigerian Army was killed by police officers at a checkpoint in Lagos in September 1992,” he corrected.

The activist also commended Prof Julius Ihonvbere, Owan Federal Constituency of Edo State, on his contribution towards impending Academic Staff Union of Universities strike. He quoted the lawmaker: “We should be embarrassed, the Nigeria ruling class all wearing big agbada, riding air-conditioned cars and building mansions in Asokoro and other places. We should be embarrassed that as a nation we have not made progress precisely in any sector.

“Part of the problem is what is happening with ASUU; we are talking of out-of-school children and your governor goes out with (a convoy of) 20 cars, they are spending money to hire tugs, but they cannot build schools for their children, talk less of feeding the children once a day. Let’s take ourselves more seriously. Let’s take our country more seriously and do the right thing at the right time to save the future.”

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