Garba Shehu, a former aide to late President Muhammadu Buhari, has said that his deceased boss would have welcomed the controversial EndSARS protest if it was not hijacked by subversive elements.
Shehu stated this on Tuesday while fielding questions on Arise Television's Morning Show programme.
We reported that Buhari died at the age of 82. He died at the London Clinic on Sunday and will be buried today.
Speaking on the major highlights during Buhari's administration, Shehu stated that his principal became worried when the protest turned violent.
He specifically noted the attack on law enforcement and the incidents of arson and murder.
Shehu said,
"It would be difficult to provide further insight than you probably would have heard. It would have been welcomed, knowing Buhari, even if it was a grievance issue.
"I do not want to deny that there were grievances and that you could see that the government responded from the beginning with offers, not only dialogue but concessions, including, for instance, the dismantling of EndSARS, which generated all of the anger and the atrocities that were being...
"I think the problem then came when it became a law and order issue. I mean, you saw all of the vandalism that was carried out, the attack on law enforcement, and the arson and murder.
"No responsible government would have held on to say let it go. I think that it was necessitated by the fact that EndSARS, which had noble origins, became hijacked by elements that were subversive.
"No leader would say that they were not disturbed when law enforcement had become a big challenge. As I said, police assets were being burnt in Lagos, state government and federal government assets, and all of that. And of course, the lives of innocent citizens, as was to be later established, had also been lost.
"So President Buhari could not have been happy with that. He was not, and we hope that there is never a repeat of that incident in this country."
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