Between the Rock and The Hard Place, As Akufo Addo Finally Speaks On Nigerian Massacre

After much prompting and criticisms over his curious silence, Ghanaian President and Chairman of the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS), President Akufo Addo has finally publicly condemned the brutal killing of scores of unarmed protesters in Nigeria.

 On both his Twitter and Facebook account, the ECOWAS Chairman wrote:  “I join all well-meaning persons in calling for calm and the use of dialogue in resolving the #EndSARS impasse in Nigeria. I have spoken with President Buhari, who is committed to this end and has begun the processes that will lead to reform. Violence, be it on the part of the Police or protesters, cannot be the solution. To the families who have lost their loved ones, I express my sincere condolences, and I wish the injured a speedy recovery.”

This is statement is coming after his communications lackeys had intensely justified his refusal to speak to the massive nationwide protest in Nigeria against police brutality that resulted in soldiers opening fire on a group of protesters in Lekki Lagos and other cities.

He also strangely impugned that the protesters may have been violent too, when video evidence clearly showed that it was the military that escalated the otherwise peaceful week-long protests across Nigeria.

Meanwhile, President Akufo Addo’s statement against the use of state apparatuses to brutalize unarmed citizens has whipped up a serious predicament for his administration in Ghana.

The President and his ruling party have been fingered in recruiting party militia into the security services and are suspected to have been primed to unleash terror during the December 7 presidential elections that he will frantically be contesting with the candidate of the main opposition party, John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Already, security experts, the general public and critics have pointed out an inherently volatile security breakdown gathering momentum in Ghana as the country races towards election D-Day.

In the past couple of weeks, several murders and suspected assassinations, armed robbery attacks, intimidation of critics of the administration and suspicious road accidents have injured or claimed the lives of several people and politicians.

Commentators on his social media page have been reacting to his statement against the Nigerian Massacre.

“So until we shout on rooftops, it wasn’t a matter to you because you’re doing same here, oppressing citizens with security, high rate of insecurity in our towns and cities. Just take this as a BIG lesson, that the people’s power is stronger than any other power. You will rather choose to rig this election at your own peril. Thank you,” one commentator slammed the president on his page.

Another one expressed disgust at how long it took the public to prompt the President to voice his criticism of the massacre in Nigeria: “So you were waiting for us to talk and tag you saaaaaa before you now come out to talk? If you’re just quiet like this and it starts in Ghana eh! Nobody will tell you. Next time do a Swift response to issues and stop all this election thing that’s clouded your mind.”

For now, the ECOWAS Chairman claim he is in dialogue with the hated President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria to resolve the impasse between the security agencies in Nigeria and the citizens.

But many people have expressed misgivings about the dialogue bringing about any meaningful solution, a situation typical of the ECOWAS which is regarded as a mere talk shop of overfed political oligarchs. 

On Tuesday night, eyewitnesses and amateur videos showed dozens of peaceful protestors in Lagos and other cities in Nigeria being shot at by soldiers deployed to contain the protests.

Whatsup News has seen disturbing scenes of protestors shot dead with some having their intestines and brains shot out and scattered on the streets as they peacefully marched against the blatant streak of police brutality in Africas most populous country.

The protestors who had started the movement #EndSARS to highlight the barbaric incidents of police brutality and execution of unarmed citizens over the years in Nigeria, had mounted a roadblock at Lekki in Lagos on Tuesday, October 20, 2020, in the week-long protest.

In all the confusion created by the protests which has been consistently staged for the past one week, the Ghanaian president had remained incommunicado. 

Critics compared that strange silence to his haste to make a statement when the American President, Donald Trump and his wife contracted COVID-19. President Akufo Addo was also one of the first foreign presidents to consol France when the famous Notre Dame Cathedral went up in flames.

Critics have concluded that the ECOWAS Chairman was simply too preoccupied with campaigning for his second term bid to care about what is happening next door in Nigeria.