The Youth Wing of the Urhobo Progressive Union, UPU, has distanced itself from a planned #ENDSARS protest slated to take place in Warri, on Friday October 9, 2020.
President of the UPU Youth Wing, Comrade Umukoro Efemena made the declaration in a statement on Thursday, saying the youth body is not in support of a planned #ENDSARS protest in the Oil City.
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Comrade Efemena in condemning the move, stated that the Youth Wing will not join a protest to seek for the release of Nicolas Makalomi, the videographer behind the viral fake ‘EndSARS’ video in Ughelli.
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Efemena’s statement thus reads in full;
“The apex youth body of Urhobo youths globally got information of a planned protest tomorrow for the release of Nicolas Makalomi.
“It is important to state that as leaders, we are privy to information and most times we do not pass all we know to members of the public.
“We have been able to get in touch with Nicolas Makalumi, who gave us a clear detail of what happened that day which was contrary to the video he sent online.”
“As a union we are not blind to the cyber crime law of Nigeria. The law that was signed during the regime of President Goodluck Jonathan. Having the idea and the knowledge of the law, we towed the part of peace to negotiate with the police to get a bargain whereby our constituent will be released to us unconditionally.
“As an ethnic group, we don’t cover criminality. As the oldest cultural group in Africa, we believe the information we have gotten and are negotiating to see how we can release him.
“It suffices me to state that is it the sole responsibility of UPU Youthwing Worldwide to negotiate, advocate and represent the interest of Urhobo youths. We therefore cancel any purported protest tomorrow as the protest is capable of destroying our earlier plea bargain with the police.
“We believe some persons without proper knowledge of what happened have decided to thwart our efforts by planning a protest tomorrow 9th of October, 2020.”
“We condemn it; It is ignorantly planned,” he opined.
“Whatever consequences that comes out from tomorrow’s protest, we shall not plead or stand for anybody,” he said.
“The fact of this case is, it was not SARS that made the arrest on that day. Our constituent said it was SARS. Our constituent also agreed that Ambrose Joshua jumped from the car. But, in his own video, he said Joshua was shot. Joshua was not shot. I have gone to the hospital to see him.
“So it is all fake news. Also, our constituent said Joshua was dead. But in the right sense, Joshua is still alive. We visited Joshua.”
“We condemn the protest; we are not part of it and we advice parents to call their children to order tomorrow. Anyone who goes out for that protest is on his or her own.
“As an ethnic body, we are not involved. We are telling all security agents to take note of this,” he stated.
Efemena lamentably expressed regrets over the damages the fake video has caused in the past couple of days, and equally condemned the police for not issuing enough protection to youths across the country.
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