Nigeria: the words and silences of President Buhari go badly with the demonstrators

In Lagos, this Friday, October 23, the situation was still tense.

REUTERS / Afolabi Sotunde

Text by: RFI Follow

3 min

After the army intervened on Tuesday evening in Lagos against a peaceful rally of young people, which left at least 12 dead according to Amnesty International and triggered a wave of looting and destruction in several states in the south of the country, Nigerians were waiting all a reaction from the president.

But Muhammadu Buhari did not say a word about this tragedy in his speech on Thursday.

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With our correspondent in Abuja

, 

“ 

.

The phrase used by the Nigerian opposition party PDP sums up the general feeling in Nigeria after

Thursday evening.

Nigerians were waiting for the president to speak out on the bloody intervention of the army on Tuesday night and name the officials who ordered the military to shoot, but Muhammadu Buhari did not even mention these events.

On social networks Thursday evening, many Nigerians said they were " 

 " after the speech of a president totally " 

 " for some.

The words of the head of state, who accused the demonstrators of " 

 " of the country, are widely denounced by the leaders of the movement who accuse the government of having paid and armed the thugs who are now sowing chaos in several cities of the country.

New looting

On the ground, the situation is indeed still tense, especially in Lagos, where several districts of the city have been completely ransacked and where a hangar containing food aid intended for families affected by the coronavirus crisis has been. looted yesterday.

The army, on the other hand, seems to have regained control of the city center, but gunshots still resounded sporadically in the working-class districts of Mainland this Friday morning.

Unlike the head of state, the city's governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, apologizes to the families of the victims, whether they are police officers or civilians.

The authorities of the megalopolis have started an inventory of the very significant damage caused throughout the city in recent days.

Postponement of local polls

In Edo State, Governor Godwin Obaseki also engaged in dialogue with civil society organizations and young people and decided to reduce the length of the current curfew.

The Nigerian electoral commission for its part announced Thursday an indefinite postponement of 15 by-elections scheduled to take place in the country at the end of October.

As

who have supported this movement from the start, they have expressed their disappointment on Twitter: singer Burna Boy says he is " 

 " by recent events in his country.

"It 

 " can we also read on Davido's Twitter account.

I'm so hurt for our generation

  Davido (@davido) October 23, 2020

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