#EndSARS Protest: Inputs of former Presidents/Heads of State_ Presidential Aide

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has supposed that the root cause of the recent nation-wide protests is long period of neglect as the problem has been with us.

Femi Adesina, SA to President Buhari on Media and Publicity said Jonathan made the comment during a virtual meeting between Nigeria’s former heads of state and President Muhammadu Buhari which was held on October 23rd.

Adesina posted on Friday captioned “Inside PMB’s Parley with Former Heads of State, that the former Nigerian leader said some fundamental questions needed to be answered.

Johnathan according to Adesina said posers like “what led to the crisis?” would help the country in forestalling future occurrences.

In what he described as “very touching,” he equally quoted most of the former leaders as saying that the #EndSARS protest which began peacefully, was later hijacked.

After the National Anthem, he said that former Head of State General Yakubu Gowon who gave the opening speech agreed that the #EndSARS protests which began peacefully, was later hijacked by some “organized miscreants.”

Gowon equally gave some recipes for the government to consider.

“Lives had been lost in scores, countless public and private properties burnt, there was murder and mayhem everywhere,” Adesina explained.

“So, it was needful that all former leaders of the country meet to put heads together, and fashion pragmatic ways forward.”

Buhari who after Gowon gave a comprehensive detail of how the protests began, and efforts made by the government to address the demands of the demonstrators.

On the perspective of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Adesina puts it succinctly that despite a history of antagonism to the President Buhari government, Obasanjo “was frank, but affable, and no tension was discerned” and “lauded the Nigerian leader for his speech the previous night.”

“On the job and economic situation in the country, he said the interventions being made were good, but not far-reaching enough for a population of 200 million people.”

Former Military President, Ibrahim Babangida expressed sadness at the turn of events in Africa’s most populous nation, extending his condolences to those who lost loved ones and properties.

Although he was worried by the quality of intelligence available to Nigerian security agencies, IBB commended “the government for the efforts so far, to end the protests.”

Chief Ernest Shonekan was brief in his speech and called for proactiveness to curb similar developments in the future, stressing that such meetings should hold often to proffer solutions to national issues.

General Abdulsalami Abubakar according to the post harped on the need for better intelligence on the part of security agencies and believes there is a need for more collaboration with the international body. “Funding of security agencies should also be looked into, while the media should be adequately engaged,”

Adesina ended the narrative that, “All that weight of experience was available at the meeting on that day, for the country to draw from, in restoring peace and cohesion after about two angry weeks.”