Nigerians unearthed a 2020 tweet from British politician Kemi Badenoch about the #EndSARS protest and her encounters with the Nigerian police, just days after NIDCOM boss Abike Dabiri-Erewa revealed that she had reached out to Badenoch several times but received no response.
She said she spoke to the Foreign Sec about #EndSars last week and also to @JamesDuddridge, Africa minister. They’ve been on this saga long before the protests started. UK government supported a roundtable meeting on FSARS reform back in 2018 and helped the National Human Rights Commission to hold a public hearing on FSARS abuses in 2019.
Their High Commissioner, @CatrionaLaing1 has supported calls for police reform, asked the security services to respect the right of Nigerians to protest peacefully and directly raised these issues with the Nigerian government.UK government welcomes @MBuhari’s decision to disband FSARS. But as you and I know, the problem is much deeper than this. Back in 2006, On a DfID review, she learned of some appalling human rights ab¥ses. Young men picked up by police and kept in jail for many years, not just without trial but without being charged.
She has friends and family out there taking part in these protests and get day by day updates. Her solidarity of course is with them. As for her own unpl£asant enco¥nters with Nigerian police, that’s a story for another day.
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