A renowned lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun, has said that the EndSARS protest was an indication that the nation needs a genuine restructuring.

The Lagos-based legal luminary expressed regret that two police stations were burnt down in his Ikere-Ekiti country home during the crisis, thereby putting policing system in jeopardy due to tactical withdrawal of the police from the community.

Olanipekun, who stated this at the weekend while awarding scholarships to 143 students to mark the 2020 edition of his scholarship scheme and the launching of the Wole Olanipekun Foundation to empower youths and downtrodden masses in Ekiti State, said: “Whatever might have been the outcome of EndSARS protests, the bitter take away there is that we must honestly, sincerely, passionately, unpretentiously take step to reawaken Nigeria, rethink Nigeria, rebuild Nigeria, rehabilitate Nigeria, re-orientate Nigeria, rekindle Nigeria, re-adjust Nigeria and revitalise Nigeria.

“The bitterness among ethnic nationalities is so deep, and we need genuine reconciliation and restructuring of the polity. That small sore has become cancerous and we need a radical surgery to extract it.”

The legal icon noted said 143 students with 67 at the secondary school cadre, 73 university undergraduates, three law students and a Ph.D. candidate, would benefit from the 2020 edition of his scholarship scheme, adding that the just-officially launched Foundation would kick off with empowerment of 100 youths and 100 widows and aged that would benefit between N50,000 and N30,000 each to establish small-scale businesses to reduce poverty in the state.

He, however, urged the well-meaning indigenes of the town to partner Governor Kayode Fayemi’s government to ensure smooth take-off of the proposed University of Education, Science and Technology in Ikere-Ekiti for radical economic development of the town.

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