Members of the United Kingdom Parliament on Monday took
turns to lambast the regime of the President, Muhammadu Buhari for the attack and intimidation of protesters who took part in the
#EndSARS demonstrations.
They demanded sanctions on government officials and security
agents such as visa ban, freezing of assets and stopping the funding and
training for the Nigeria Police Force.
The debate was sequel to a petition started by Silas Ojo
which had garnered over 200,000 signatures.
The debate by members of the Petitions Committee, which took
place at the Westminster Hall, kicked
off with Theresa Villiers, a member of the British Conservative Party who
served as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2019
to 2020.
The Member of Parliament for Chipping Barnet constituency
said, “I believe the petitioners have a credible case for the imposition of
individualised sanctions such as travel bans and asset freezes.”
She said the UK Government must explain the role of the
government in training security agents who end up abusing the rights of
Nigerian citizens.
Also speaking, the MP for Edmonton, Kate Osamor, described
as undemocratic, the claim by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed,
that the killings at the Lekki toll plaza was fake news.
Osamor stated, “The Nigerian government says that it has
disbanded SARS but the corruption and brutality of the security forces
continues. The Nigerian government’s violence against its own citizens appears
only to be intensifying.
“The Nigerian government needs to stop freezing bank
accounts of key protesters; it needs to stop illegal detentions of key
protesters. The Minister of Information for the Federal Government went on
record to state that the CNN reporting of the massacre is fake news. This is
undemocratic conduct.”
Osamor stated that the UK government continued to sell
weapons and provide training to SARS personnel despite the fact that Amnesty
International and other rights groups had accused the now disbanded unit of
extra-judicial killings.
Member of Parliament for West Ham, Lyn Brown, said it was
unfortunate that the Federal Government went ahead to not only accuse
protesters of sponsoring terrorism and freeze their accounts but also blamed
them for the increase in food prices.
Responding on behalf of the UK government, the MP for
Aldridge-Brownhills, Wendy Morton, who is also the Minister at the Foreign, Commonwealth
and Development Office, said the reports of intimidation of #EndSARS protesters
were worrying.
Morton stated that the UK government was communicating with
the President’s Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, and Lagos State
Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
“It is a
long-standing practice not to speculate on future sanctions as it could reduce
the impact of the designations,” Morton said.
“We are aware that some protesters have reported facing
intimidation and the British High Commissioner in Abuja continues to raise our
concerns about intimidation of civil society groups and peaceful protesters
with the Nigerian government,” the minister said.
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