The general overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye and the founder of Twitter, Mr. Jack Dorsey, have expressed support for the #EndSARS protests engulfing Nigeria for eight days running.
Adeboye, in a tweet Wednesday night wrote: “Our daughters will not be able to prophesy and young men will not see visions if we don’t keep them alive. I support the youths in this peaceful protest as they ‘speak up’ to #EndPoliceBrutality #EndSARS #ENDSWAT,” the clergyman wrote on Twitter.
Also in a statement of solidarity issued by the assistant general overseer in-charge of administration and personnel, Johnson Odesola, the clergyman expressed the church’s understanding and appreciation of the struggle saying: “The Redeemed Christian Church of God identifies with Nigerians presently protesting against police brutality and the abuse of power by the very institution established to protect them.
“The church declares its understanding and appreciation of the concerns and grievances of the youths and the generality of Nigerians and calls for an immediate end to police brutality in the country.”
He said the constitutional responsibility of the police is to maintain law and order and underscored the need for the police to constantly align their strategies with the needs of the people.
“While noting that many innocent lives have been lost through unnecessary brutality and wrong application of force, the church calls on the government to not only restructure the police but to also re-orientate the officers towards modern ways of policing.
“The church welcomes the disbandment of the SARS, and notes the establishment of a new outfit called the Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT) but advises that it should not become a case of old wine in a new bottle.”
However, he appealed to the protesting youths to comport themselves orderly as, “they have been online and in major cities across the federation and express their grievances within the confines of what God and the law of the land allows.”
Adeboye also used the opportunity to call on the government to take urgent steps to tackle the rising rate of unemployment, decay in the nation’s educational system and the general harsh economic situation in the country.
For his part, Dorsey tweeted #EndSARS with a link to the website of Feminist Coalition, @Feministcoalition, a group of Nigerian feminists fighting against injustice through peaceful protests, fundraising, and social media organisation.
He tweeted, “#EndSARS. Flag of Nigeria.”
The twitter founder also re-tweeted several articles favourable to the protests as well as shared links for donations
The tweet read in part, “How to donate: 1) Bank transfers (Naira) 9951243245 Providus Bank Wallets. Africa-Wine and Whine Nigeria (2) You can also donate to us using a BTC Pay Server; a free, secure, and censorship-resistant platform. Visit https://donatebtc.feministcoalition2020.com to donate.
However, former presidential aspirant and member of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Mr. Adamu Garba has criticised Dorsey for his support for EndSARS agitators and asked him to back off.
The APC chieftain threatened to sue Dorsey in the event of escalation of the protest.
“Dear @jack. It’ll do you a lot more good if you stay away from Nigerian Politics. You should know that the so-called #EndSARS protest have transformed into political agitation, capable of breaking law & order in our country. You should not be a moral and financial sponsor to this.
“This is Nigeria; most of the demands initially presented were attended to by the responsible authorities. SARS no longer exists in this country. Your support for a disbanded entity was a needless interference. We cannot allow killings again in Nigeria in the name of protests.
“I understand that this may play well to your business, you have more content, more people and more activity on your platform, but to us is about life, peace and security of our dear country, we cannot allow you to be part of the people sponsoring disorder. We need peace and prosperity.
“I can see you are even sharing a link for people to donate money for this protest, an event capable of escalation beyond our already overstretched security management. If this protest continues to evolve into disorder (hopefully not) as a Nigerian citizen, we’ll meet in court,” Garba tweeted.
Meanwhile, the EndSARS protests have continued nationwide despite the approval of their five-point demand by a presidential panel and the creation of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team by the inspector-general of police, Mr. Mohammed Adamu, to replace the disbanded Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS).
