Reno Omokri, ex-aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, has claimed that “over 300 Nigerians” are still being held in connection with the extraordinary #EndSARS protests of October 2020, and are rotting in jail.
Many of these detainees are held in Kirikiri Maximum Prison in Apapa.
POLITICS NIGERIA recalls that hoodlums contaminated the #EndSARS protests in several Nigerian states. Destructions were enormous in Lagos. Nationwide, not less than 22 policemen, seven soldiers and 59 civilians were killed, according to the toll announced by President Muhammadu Buhari during an emergency meeting with former Nigerian leaders on 23 October 2020. On a date unforgettable to Nigerian youths (20 October 2020), lawbreakers set ablaze the building of Orile-Iganmu Police Station. A policeman who jumped the fence of the station in a bid to keep safe landed in the hands of the hoodlums who killed him. Some of the gangsters audaciously rocked police uniforms. One Sodiq Adigun was later arrested and paraded at the Command Headquarters in Ikeja, Lagos.
The Orile-Iganmu Police Station incident sparked anger among personnel of the Lagos State Police Command, as they resolved to use random persons around the area as scapegoats.
Legal practitioner, civil society organizations, as well as government critics are criticising the government for detaining some EndSARS protesters without trial, Omokri has waded in.
“There are still over 300 Nigerians languishing in prison due to their patriotic roles during the #EndSARS protests. This is beside the uncountable number that Buhari killed,” he wrote on his verified Twitter handle on Wednesday.
