The Governor of Osun State, Gboyega Oyetola and the Nigerian Youth Parliament have expressed sadness over the deaths of three citizens of the state on Tuesday evening, following an alleged chase by officers of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Osogbo.
Oyetola and the national youth leaders demanded full investigation into the tragic deaths and the riots that enveloped Osogbo afterwards.
Some youths in the state had taken to the state government house at Oke Fia with the corpse of one of the victims to protest their untimely deaths.
The irate protesters on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning made bon fire before the Governor’s official residence and other areas in the state, calling for the scrapping of SARS.
A statement signed by the state’s Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, Funke Egbemode, said the governor was deeply disturbed by Tuesday evening’s sad events and had asked the State Command of the Nigerian Police to get to the bottom of the matter.
In the same vein, NYP expressed disappointment at the recent conducts of SARS officers whenever they “sight apparently rich youths.”
This was made known in a statement issued by NYP members: Hon. Dr. Aderibigbe Costly Abosede (Osun East Senatorial District and Chairman, SDGs Committee for the Youth Parliament); Hon Oladejo Bashiru Aderoju (Osun State Central Senatorial District and Secretary, Committee on Transportation); and Hon Amusat Olajide Yusuf (Osun state West Senatorial District/Member, committee on Mineral Resources).
The youth representatives called on the Federal Government to bring unjust killings of youths to an end in the country by scrapping SARS.
While asking the Police to ensure a thorough investigation into the killing of the suspected Yahoo Boys in Osogbo, NYP demanded that the outcome of the investigation be made public and culprits be brought to justice.
The statement, made available to journalists on Wednesday, said, “We condemn in strong terms the unwarranted death of male citizens, following an alleged chase of a vehicle by the officers of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Osogbo on Tuesday.
“This approach by SARS is barbaric and we therefore call on the Federal Government of Nigeria to put an end to SARS’ unjust killings forthwith.
“We, as representatives of Youth in Nigeria, call on Governor Gboyega Oyetola and the Osun State command of the Nigeria Police to ensure thorough investigation of this incidence and make public results of investigations. Culprits must be brought to book to serve as scape goats.
“The future of any country depends on how well such country invests and value her young people. But this is not the case in Nigeria as police are killing us gradually.
“We implore Osun and Nigerian youths to maintain peace while investigations are ongoing on this tragic development.”
The Governor said, “All lives matter and nobody has a right under our laws to take a life summarily. While we appreciate the great job our law enforcement agencies are doing to keep Osun safe, the confusion and disruption to our peaceful state capital on Tuesday needs to be investigated.
Oyetola appealed to the families of the victims and the injured not to take matters into their hands by hurting more people or destroying properties.
