DAAR Communications Plc Founder/Emeritus-Chairman High Chief Raymond Dokpesi has warned the Federal Government to brace up for more #ENDSARS protests.
He said as long impunity and injustices remain in the system, Nigerians, especially the youths, will continue to demand good governance.
Dokpesi spoke on Wednesday when he led the management of DAAR Communications to Vintage Press Ltd, publishers of The Nation over the recent attack on its facilities in Lagos headquarters.
He advised the Federal Government to release detained members of the #EndSARS movement.
He said their accounts should be unfrozen by the government.
He said #EndSARS was beginning of a long struggle to appraise and restructure the country.
“A lot of impunity has happened in a very recent time. Nigeria has never been as divided as it is today. People have lost faith and confidence in the ability of Nigeria to remain as one united country.
“So, the time is fast approaching but we pray that God will raise a crop of Nigerians, who still believe strongly in the unity, progress and development of this country.
“Those who can sacrifice because the people who are supposed to be our servants – public servants, civil servants – have become our public masters.
“Until we re-orientate the people that public service is service to our people, that we are in the office to contribute to the well-being and good of our country, then, the #EndSARS has just started. It has emboldened quite a lot of people. There is nothing to be hidden anymore,” he said.
He alleged the protests were peaceful until some forces in the government sponsored hoodlums to attack them.
He said: “The #EndSARS protest started in a quiet and proper manner. It was an effort of overzealous elements of the government that went to recruit hoodlums to overtake the legitimate protest organised by those that are graduates and well educated that led to the crisis.
“When the protest started, nobody saw any gun; nobody saw anything until an effort was made to quell it. In Abuja where I was, we saw trucks of people they brought in, uneducated to overpower the educated.
“Those people carried cutlasses and sticks and that was the beginning of it. If they had not brought in the hoodlums, it’s possible we would have had a peaceful protest.”
He warned that as a parent, he was ready come out to challenge the government to release the protesters
“They are going after protesters because their own children aren’t involved, so those of us that have our own children involved, can we ask that they be killed?
“Next time, it wouldn’t be the children protesting, we, the parents, will come out and say let our children be free and that’s what we are going to do and the conditions that prevail today now, should it goes to the first quarter of next year, it will be very disastrous and it will be bad for all of us. Let us put on our thinking cap and reverse the situation,” he said.
He described the attack on The Nation premises and facilities as unfortunate and most painful.
“Having gone through this path myself several times in the past, I know how demoralising and devastating it is…It is not such a pain that can just be pushed away or go off in a short time but our gratitude to God is that the fact that the areas that were touched are now gradually being refurbished.
‘’May God not let us experience this; may this organisation be able to prosper and provide that leadership it has begun to provide.’’
Dokpesi said the media should be the last place to be attacked by any group of persons.
“No matter how convincing their grievances were, The Nation didn’t deserve the type of attack that it was subjected to and like I have said, may God not let this happen again in the future,” he said.
