Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to address the nation and calm nerves amidst the ongoing #SARSMustEnd protest spreading across the country, warning that an impending national outrage looms.

The CNPP in a statement signed by its Secretary General, Chief Willy Ezugwu said “there is a time silence is not golden and such a time is now.”

The umbrella body of all registered political parties and political associations in Nigeria maintained that “for the President to continue to keep quiet while peacefully protesting young Nigerians are being brutalised and killed by security operatives raises doubt on how sensitive the current administration is to the plights of suffering Nigerians.

“In case Mr President and his handlers has forgotten, in the dark days of military dictatorship both the people and the Nigerian media were gagged using the barrels of the gun but it never worked.

“If it didn’t work under the military dictatorships in the past, how do President Buhari and his handlers think rolling out tanks and oppressive weapons will be an answer to genuine demand for reforming the Nigeria Police Force?”, the CNPP queried.

On possible escalation of the ongoing #SARSMustEnd protest, the CNPP observed that “In case Mr President is not aware, our findings since the current unrest in the country show that the people are determined and continued deployment of security forces against the citizens will worsen the situation as bottled anger in the last five years of maladministration will finally be unleashed by the citizens.

“We then call on Mr President to immediately address the nation and order security agencies to leave the protesters alone.

“The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) should do the needful urgently and stop an obviously impending national outrage against the government it formed in 2015”, the CNPP counselled.