President Akufo-Addo and President M. Buhari
President Akufo-Addo yesterday added his voice to the growing security concerns about neighbouring Nigeria.
It follows the killing of some 49 protesters with several others wounded in a nationwide protest over a now-disbanded police unit – the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
Angry Nigerians started the campaign two weeks ago, with demonstrators using the social media hashtag #EndSars to rally crowds.
A number of people have reportedly been shot dead or wounded at a protest against police brutality in Nigeria’s biggest city, Lagos.
In a facebook post on Wednesday, President Akufo-Addo said “I join all well-meaning persons in calling for calm, and the use of dialogue in resolving the #EndSARS impasse in Nigeria.”
“I have spoken with President Buhari, who is committed to this end, and has begun the processes that will lead to reform”, he stated, while insisting that “violence, be it on the part of the police or protesters, cannot be the solution.”
To the families who have lost their loved ones, he expressed sincere condolences, and wished the injured a speedy recovery.
On Wednesday, witnesses and the rights group, Amnesty International, said several people were killed and wounded when soldiers opened fire on demonstrators.
A state governor said about 25 people had been wounded but only a person had died.
An indefinite 24-hour curfew has been imposed on Lagos and other states.
As tension continued to rise on Wednesday, police in different districts of Lagos fired shots in the air to disperse people defying the curfew, the BBC’s Nduka Orjinmo reported from the capital, Abuja.
Protesters who briefly gathered again at the Lekki toll gate where Tuesday’s shootings took place were forced out by police, he added.
However, plumes of smoke could be seen above Lagos on Wednesday.
A reporter for AFP news agency said several buildings were in flames around the Lekki area. A bus station was reported to be on fire in another district while a major TV station – linked to one of the governing party’s top politicians – was reportedly set alight by people throwing petrol bombs.
The headquarters of the Nigerian Ports Authority was also set on fire, local media said.
Witnesses spoke of uniformed men opening fire in the wealthy Lekki suburb on Tuesday evening.
Soldiers were seen barricading the protest site moments before the shooting, BBC Nigeria correspondent Mayeni Jones said.
Social media footage streamed live from the scene showed protesters tending to the wounded.
In a tweet, Amnesty International Nigeria said it had “received credible but disturbing evidence of excessive use of force occasioning deaths of protesters at Lekki toll gate in Lagos.”
In a statement on Wednesday, President Buhari did not directly refer to the shootings, but called on people to have patience as police reforms “gather pace”.
A statement issued by his office said the dissolution of the SARS was “the first step in a set of reform policies that will deliver a police system accountable to the Nigerian people.”
“The presidency wishes to reiterate the full commitment of the Buhari administration to the implementation of lasting police reforms in Nigeria,” it added.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent