A Nairametrics report published on the 22nd of November states that the British Parliament (BP) has disclosed that it will consider a petition by some groups and individuals. A BBC report explained the BP is inclined to review petitions with up to 100,000 signatures, this petition numbered up to 220,330 signatures, which includes over 2,000 UK residents.
This petition accuses the Nigerian government and security officials of human rights abuses and extrajudicial killings during the #ENDSARS protests and the Lekki Tollgate shooting incident. They held the #ENDSARS protests in October as a means for Nigerian citizens to express their displeasure with the killings of Nigerian youths at the hand of the SARS unit.
The BBC report states that the proposed sanctions on guilty government officials range from visa bans to assets freezing as was declared in the e-petition that was reviewed at a Parliament debate on Monday 23rd of November.
Premium Times interviewed the Nigerian Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama. His primary response to the commencement of an investigation of the allegations against the Nigerian government was that the threats of sanctions issued by the UK parliament do not represent the stance of the British government.
Similarly, This Day published a report on the 25th of November that showed that the Nigerian Federal government was unperturbed by the resolutions of the UK parliamentarians for sanctions. It is also important to note there have been no charges for the Lekki shootings although investigations are said to be ongoing. Meanwhile, in a THISDAY interview the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, referred to the allegations in the sanction request, including the Lekki Tollgate shootings, as a fake report.
As the UK parliament continues to investigate the allegations, the Nigerian government and citizens can only wait patiently for the outcome.
Inland Town! 2020
