Civil Society Groups in Osun, under the aegis of the Civil Society Coalition, on Tuesday said all their agitations and protests have been put on hold and directed all protesters and youths in the state to do the same.
The Coalition, through a statement by Mr Ayo Ologun, said the decision followed the criminal manner hoodlums are going about looting and vandalising both public and private properties.
Quoting the 35th American President, J.F. Kennedy, as having said that “those who refused to participate in the politics of their environment end up being governed by their inferiors,” Ologun declared “we greatly appreciate the doggedness and resilience of the teeming youths in the State, for showcasing genuine concerns for nation-building and just society, by joining their comrades across the country to agitate for end to police brutality and brigandage.
“The patriotic commitment and stance of our youths against brutal force and unlawful activities of the disbanded Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS) remain unforgettable and exemplary. It is indeed a watershed in the annals of our dear country.
“Unfortunately, in the course of our genuine struggle for the emancipation of the weak and downtrodden, and for better society of our desire, some unscrupulous elements with divisive tendencies sneaked into the barricade and disrupted our procession.
“The most disheartening and pathetic of this rude obstruction of our movement to the point of egalitarianism was the kleptomaniac tendencies of these individuals, who used our popular struggle as cover to steal, maim and vandalise our common patrimony.
“We were astonishingly taken aback and utterly saddened with the criminal manner these elements went about looting both public and private properties and almost turned the state to the arena of anarchy and turmoil, before the swift intervention of the state government.
“Going forward therefore, as we implicitly comply with 24-hour curfew imposed on the state by the government for the ultimate goal of returning sanity and peace into the state, we hereby use this medium to notify our teeming youths that every agitation and protest has been put on hold.
“We enjoin our comrades to vacate the barricaded areas and suspend every struggle to allow the Osun Government to carry out necessary steps towards meeting the array of our demands, especially the five-point demand issued to the Federal Government.
“It should be noted that anybody caught on the streets doing otherwise under the guise of #EndSARS protest will be treated as a defiant and such individual will consequently face the full wrath of the law.
“We further enjoin anyone with genuine claim of police brutality and other related matters to approach the newly-inaugurated Judicial Panel of Enquiry for redress,” he said.
