2023: Okorocha Opens Up On #EndSARS Movement, Says Nothing Like Police Brutality

Former Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha has said that there is no such thing as police brutality in Nigeria.

Naija News understands that the Nigerian lawmaker stated this during a press briefing in Abuja on Monday where he officially announced his 2023 presidential ambition.

According to him, police brutality is a situation of youths brutalizing youths, because the policemen accused of brutality are also young persons and their actions are out of frustration.

It could be recalled that there was an outrage in October 2020 after the youths took to the streets of various cities to protest over police brutality in Nigeria.

The protest tagged EndSARS shut down Nigeria for weeks as youths called for the reform of the Nigeria Police Force, NPF.

However, Okorocha while speaking at a world press conference where he declared his ambition to run for president in 2023, on Monday said, “Someone asked me, ‘what will you do about #EndSARS, about policy brutality?’ I said to him, there is nothing like police brutality; what we have are youths brutalising youths out of frustration. The policeman that brutalized his brother on the street did so not because he’s the police; he did so because he’s a young man frustrated.”

Meanwhile, former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar is reportedly considering dropping former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi in favour of another person as his running mate for the 2023 presidency.

According to reports, Atiku wants to choose Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike as his running mate should he clinch the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ticket for the 2023 presidency.

Atiku and Obi had contested together in 2019 as the presidential and vice-presidential candidates of the PDP, Naija News reports.

But according to sources quoted by Business Day, apart from his charisma and intellectual capacity which made him popular with the people, Obi didn’t make too many financial contributions to the ticket.

The source claimed it is the belief in the Atiku camp that Wike can also attract voters from the southeast and bring meaningful financial contributions to political campaigns as well.