EndSars Protest: President Buhari acted like a father-Adesina

The Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has said the president acted like a father during the #EndSARS protest that rocked the country last month.
Adesina made the assertion in a piece on Friday titled, ‘We Have Not Many Fathers’ which was published on his website www.femiadesina.com
The President’s spokesman said had his boss not exercised the tolerance of a father, “we would have been talking of something else in the country”.

He, however, said Buhari would not allow rampaging hoodlums to burn down the country.
According to him, the government accepted the five-point demands of the #EndSARS protesters but “the protest was prolonged, and eventually hijacked and misdirected” because the youths didn’t see what the elders saw.

The spokesman lamented that people the President respected “instigated the protesters to carry on” but “promptly went underground when anarchy ensued”.

“All through the EndSARS protest and the riots, mayhem, and looting that followed, President Buhari acted like a father. And though we have millions of instructors in this country, we have not many fathers. President Buhari is one”.

“The President is by no means a soft man. We remember the man of iron and steel that ruled with an iron fist between January 1984 and August 1985, with his kindred spirit, Babatunde Idiagbon. They attempted to knock sense into our heads as Nigerians but were eventually toppled by people who had less patience for discipline.

“Is President Buhari as hard as he was in 1984? Yes and no. In personal traits and attributes, he remains the unbending iron. But in terms of administration and response to people and situations, he is tempered by democracy, and by time. What he could do by military fiat then, he must pass through a democratic due process now.

“If President Buhari hadn’t exercised the restraint and tolerance of a father, at a time that even hitherto respected people instigated the protesters to carry on (and they promptly went underground when anarchy ensued), we would have been talking of something else in the country.

The rivers of Nigeria could have turned crimson, and mourning and lamentations would have suffused the land. But we are thankful for the father in President Buhari, patient and enduring, almost to a fault.”
See popular reactions…

This African talk of leaders being fathers and mothers is both deceitful and unnecessary. We voted a president not a father. We are satisfied with our fathers what we need from the president we voted is a president who stand accountable to us and listens to us. Thank you

— Idorenyin Etuk (@IdorenyinEtuk5) November 13, 2020

What father watch his house burn with his family inside for two weeks without addressing it. What kind of a father is Buhari that failed to address the youth protesting against police brutality for two weeks until Ghana president address Nigeria youths.

— Daniel Godwin (@focus1030) November 13, 2020

Mr Adesina remember that SSA to @MBuhari is not an ever lasting position. Soon you 'll be out and posterity 'll never forget how you allowed yourself to be used as the mouth piece and defender of a govt that killed her citizens.

— Sir J (@ebadin_john) November 13, 2020

🤔a loving father indeed! Patiently condoned the killings of hundreds of Nigerians by Boko Haram, bandits and killer herdsmen just like he condoned peaceful protests until he stamped it out days after it turned violent. @FemAdesina's father is loving indeed.#EndSARS #AwaFierce

— Adeyemi Ibironke (@SirMcAwesome247) November 13, 2020

Recall that thousands of youths in a peaceful protest last month demanded police reform and good governance. The demonstration turned bloody after the alleged shooting of #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki tollgate on October 20. Rampaging hoodlums later took advantage of the commotion to terrorize citizens and destroy valuable assets in the country.