UN offers support to Nigeria following protests
Nigerisns have taken to the streets demanding an end to brutality, extrajudicial executions and extortion by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad which has since been disbanded.
JOHANNESBURG, November 11 (ANA) – The deputy secretary-general of the United Nations Amina Mohammed said the organisation would help Nigeria recover following protests against police brutality that erupted early last month.
Nigerisns have taken to the streets demanding an end to brutality, extrajudicial executions and extortion by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad which has since been disbanded.
According to The Punch newspaper, Mohammed, a former minister of environment in Nigeria, made the pledge in an interview on Monday with State House correspondents after meeting President Muhammadu Buhari in the capital Abuja.
Mohammed said said the UN was shocked by the loss of lives and destruction of facilities during the protests.
“Young people and their demands for social justice, governance are all legitimate ones and must be done peacefully,” The Punch quoted her as saying.
“But we were all disturbed by the damage level, loss of lives and we continue to condole with those families who suffer those losses.”
Mohammed reportedly commended efforts being made by the government to engage young people over their demands, stressing that the UN believed everyone had the right to demonstrate peacefully on issues they wanted to raise with their government.
On Monday, The Nation newspaper reported that 253 people arrested in connection with the protests had since been released from police custody.
– African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa