Sinister and anti-people motives have enveloped Nigeria, Professor Akhaine cries out

&NewLine;<p><strong><em>Sinister and  anti-people motives have enveloped Nigeria&period; This is the submission of  Sylvester Odion Akhaine&comma; a Professor of Political Science&comma; Lagos State University&period; In this piece&comma; Akhaine  lends his voice to the unacceptable killing of protesters in Nigeria<&sol;em><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>I read and watched in agony the callous massacre of peaceful protesters in the streets of Lagos&comma; Abuja and other parts of the country&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>It is well-known that the Nigerian youth were protesting peacefully&comma; and indeed&comma; it was a festival of protest underlined by dancing and conviviality&period; The demand was loud and clear&colon; fundamental change of a clearly decadent political structure that serves only the warped political actors while the country sinks deeper into irretrievable decadence and development inertia&period;<br>The protest was not localised to the country’s borders&period; Nigerians in the diaspora massified the protest to let the rest of the world know the Nigerian condition&period; The ruling clique deployed agents provocateurs&comma; a worn intelligence tactic&comma; to provide a pretext to use of violence against the protesters&period; This tactic was dramatised in the jail-break in Benin&comma; the deployment of thugs in SUV buses in the Federal Capital Territory&comma; and the visible removal of CCTV camera from their anchors and subsequent opening of fire on innocent flag-carrying Nigerian youths by men of the Nigerian armed forces&period; At the last count&comma; over a dozen&comma; and still counting were killed&period; Across the country&comma; an estimated 50 people have been killed while several others have sustained varied injuries&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>The killing of Nigerian youth stands condemned&period; The action is not only outrageous but barbaric and abhorrent to the civilised global community&period; President Mohammadu Buhari bears responsibility for the killings and the expanding discontent in the country&period; It is unfortunate that the Nigerian armed forces have turned themselves into an occupation force in a context that they are expected to protect the people who are the boss in a democracy&comma; and the base of sovereignty&period; It is more offensive to patriotic ethos to open fire on Nigerians waving the Nigerian flag&period; To paraphrase J&period; F Kennedy’s phrase&comma; those who make peaceful change in impossible&comma; makes violent change inevitable&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>I hereby add my voice to that of well-meaning Nigerians to put the world on notice that something sinister and anti-people is taking place in Nigeria&period; International organisations such as the International Criminal Court &lpar;ICC&rpar; to stand by the Nigerian people against a ruling clique that has nothing to offer but looting and sheer destruction of the country&period; The killers of our youth must not go unpunished&period;<br>Long Live Nigerian People&excl;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;