DEBO Adebayo, popularly called Mr. Macaroni, has alleged that the current administration has no regard for human lives and would kill or dehumanise anyone that stands in the way of what it wants to do.
Adebayo made this allegation in a video he released on Facebook, where he recounted his experience with the Nigerian Police after he was arrested along with some other protesters at the Lekki tollgate, where they had converged to protest the reopening of the tollgate.
He said he did not set out to join the protest on the fateful day, especially after pleas by his family members, but that he was motivated to go out when he realised that people would be there, and that it was only a gathering to ask why the tollgate was reopened.
Adebayo, who was also very active during the recent #EndSARS protests, said the protesters were arrested and taken to Adeniji, where they were stripped naked and beaten.
According to him, if people had not spoken up, deaths would have been recorded “because nobody would have known where anybody was or who picked up who.”
He said, “I want to thank everyone for speaking up and thank everyone for their show of love. My phones are bad, so I can’t really take calls or reply messages and all that. But I’m here, I’m in my house, I’m okay. I just want to address one or two things about the recent events.
“In fact, I was very scared. I didn’t want to go out at all. My family members called me, my friends, everyone called me and said ‘don’t go out.’ In all honesty, in my heart of hearts, I didn’t want to go out. The only reason I went there was because I knew that people would be there. I knew people would die again.
“I knew it, and I can confirm to you that if words did not get out, people would have died because nobody would have known where anybody was or who picked up who.”
He added, “The situation that we are in this country is deep and you cannot blame anyone. People are scared for their lives and we know that we are in a government that has zero value for human lives. They don’t care at all. They will kill anybody; they will dehumanise anybody just to make sure they do what they want to do.
“So this is not the time to say oh, where are the celebrities? Where are the rest? We only need to come together to speak against what is going on in our society.”
Narrating his ordeal in the hands of the security operatives, he said, “When we were picked up, we were taken to Adeniji, where we were beaten, we were stripped naked. Everyone was beaten. I’ve asked them to help put out the names of the 39 people that were with me, male and female. They were the real heroes.”
He berated the Federal Government for the molestation of protesters.
“You had over 200 policemen out there yesterday, and you want to tell me that with that, you couldn’t guarantee a peaceful protest if you wanted to. All of you are irresponsible,” Adebayo said.
