Religious Leaders Call For Withdrawal Of Soldiers From Lagos Streets

Religious leaders in Lagos State Tuesday described as unacceptable the deployment of soldiers on the streets of Lagos since Monday and called on the Federal Government for their immediately withdrawal.

In a statement read on their behalf by the State Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Co-Chairman of Nigerian Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), Rev. Monsignor Bernard Ayodele Okodua after their meeting on the issue, the leaders who also described Lagos as an epitome of religious and ethnic harmony, said they were at a loss as to what could have informed such a strange development.

According to the religious leaders, “as a state that has haboured over 20 million people of diverse backgrounds without any case of breakdown of law and order, even in the face of violence in other parts of the country. We are at a loss as to what could have warranted such huge presence of military men who have taken over the duties of the police as if there is a coup d’état in the country.”

“We demand an explanation because we know that soldiers don’t usually take to the streets in the manner they have done, if they don’t have the instructions to intimidate, harass, scare and bully innocent citizens who ironically have been living as brothers in Lagos,” the leaders said.

Noting that the soldiers may have been deployed in Lagos because of the legitimate protests and legal rallies held by the Nigeria Labour Congress and the civil society groups to speak up against the removal of oil subsidy on petroleum products, the clerics declared, “the rallies held across the state by Lagosians in the last eight days have been most peaceful in spite of the diverse faith and ethnicity of the protesters.”

“Our constitution guarantees freedom of expression to all citizens and therefore our people are covered under this constitutional provision to protest peacefully any policy of government that they find unacceptable. What they cannot do and which they did not do is to infringe on the rights of other people,” the religious leaders noted.

They argued that since the nationwide strike was observed across the 36 states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory, there was no reason why Lagos State should be singled out for deployment of soldiers.

Calling for the immediate withdrawal of the soldiers, the religious leaders declared, “our people are being intimidated by the presence of these armed soldiers as they are unsure of the intention of government and its next move,” adding, “we sincerely hope that this is not a subtle way by the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in Lagos State as this will not be in the interest of the country.”

Other religious leaders present at the press conference were Dr. Saheed Timehin, Co-Chairman of NIREC, Baba Adinni of Lagos, Sheikh Abdul-Hafiz Abou, Pastor Apostle Jeremiah Akunwusi, Sheikh Abdul Nojeed, Venerable Archdeacon Yinka Onohi, Sheikh Sikirullahi Shaffy and Bishop George Amu.