The Vice President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has visited Lagos State for the launching of the Rebuild Lagos Trust Fund and inauguration of the Board of Trustees.
As disclosed on the Twitter handle of Government of Nigeria, the VP came in earlier yesterday, 15th of November for the purpose of launching the Rebuild Lagos Trust Fund after the massive destruction of properties following the #EndSARS protest.
The Rebuild Lagos Trust Fund and inauguration of the Board of Trustees was hosted by the Governor of Lagos State, Babjide Sanwo-Olu where the fund is charged with the mandate of rebuilding Lagos following the destructions of the city in the aftermath of the #EndSARS protests.
However, after Osinbajo’s arrival to the state, it was reported that he was seen paying courtesy calls to the Oba of Lagos and the Former Governor of the state, Ashiwaju Tinubu.
According to report, the visit hopes to encourage Lagos to rebuild & restore. The visit is also aimed at regaining the trust of the people in the government which will in turn make Nigeria prevail.
Recall that the #EndSARS protest which is a decentralised social movement and series of mass protests against police brutality in Nigeria started on the 8 of October, 2020. The protest started with the call for the government to disband the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a “notorious unit” of the Nigerian Police with a long record of abuses.
Within a few days of renewed protests, on the 11th of October 2020, the Nigerian Police Force announced that it was dissolving the unit with immediate effect. The move was widely received as a triumph of the demonstrations. However, it was noted in many quarters that similar announcements had been made in recent years to pacify the public without the unit actually being disbanded, this enlightenment further resulted in the continuation of the protests.
The protest which continued was further hyjacked by Hoodlums which led to the killings of many citizens, this hyjack also led to the increase in insecurity and violence in many states in Nigeria, especially Lagos State where the protest started. The situation of insecurity made the Governor of Lagos State to declare a 24-hour curfew on the 20th of October, but some of the protesters at Lekki Tollgate were adamant and continued their protest peacefully, after which we saw an army of soldiers shooting at the peaceful protesters in a live video.
Following this incident, the violence increased and hoodlums were seen destroying buildings, especially police stations and government owned properties, there were also lootings of numerous Private stores and destruction of Private properties.
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