Several groups have prepared for a nationwide rally to protest widespread insecurity and the worsening cost of living, with the Take-It-Back Movement, the Coalition Against Insecurity, the Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond, the Alliance of Nigerian Students Against Neoliberal Attacks, and the EndBadGovernance Movement poised to hit the streets.
The protests are scheduled for Friday between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. and will be held across Plateau, Kwara, Port Harcourt, Oyo, Lagos, Osun, Bauchi, Delta, Rivers and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, where mobilisations have begun, according to checks by The Gazette.
“Nigeria under the current administration has collapsed into misrule, corruption and policy failures. Basic institutions have been captured, accountability is dead, and the social contract between government and citizens has been broken. Kidnappings, banditry, terrorism and state-sponsored violence have become daily realities.
“From Ogbomosho to Ekiti, Kwara to Plateau, Nigerians live in fear. The recent abduction of children and teachers in Oyo state and the illegal arrests of peaceful protesters exposed the government’s inability and unwillingness to protect lives,” Juwon Sanyaolu, the national coordinator of the TIB Movement, told The Gazette.
The TIB’s demands include the immediate rescue of all abducted citizens, a permanent end to insecurity, illegal arrests, forced evictions and state brutality, reversal of anti-poor economic policies and urgent relief for hungry Nigerians, along with respect for fundamental rights, press freedom and the right to peaceful assembly.
The group’s coordinator in Oyo state, Dimeji Salako, said the demonstration in Ibadan would express displeasure over the performance of President Bola Tinubu and Governor Seyi Makinde.
“Yes, we are planning for a peaceful protest for June 12. It’s a civic demonstration against insecurity, especially kidnapping and the rescue of the Ogbomoso 47, high cost of living, bad governance and the bastardisation of democracy by the Tinubu-led federal government and the Makinde-led state government,” Mr Salako stated.
A rights activist and leader of the #EndBadGovernance Movement in Lagos, Hassan Soweto, told The Gazette that “Friday’s action is for Nigerians to come together, to collectively demonstrate their anger and frustration at what is happening. Nigerians are going to use Friday to assert their freedom of expression and assembly”.
He stated that the gathering at Ikeja Underbridge in Lagos would feature rallies, speeches, marches, songs, dances and what he described as “a collective rage against President Tinubu’s government and the capitalist system”.
“It is going to be a peaceful action. It will be an assertion of the people’s right to freedom of assembly. We hope that the Nigerian security operatives, particularly the Nigerian Police, will equally come down to assist or allow the people to express themselves,” Mr Soweto stated.
He disclosed that human rights lawyer and coalition leader, Femi Falana, sent a letter to the inspector general of police, Tunji Disu, on Wednesday, notifying the force of the demonstration.
On Wednesday, 16 civil groups, comprising trade unions, youth groups, community associations, social movements, individuals and faith-based groups, declared June 12 a “day of nationwide protest and mass action against worsening insecurity, escalating economic hardship and the deterioration of living conditions of millions of Nigerians”.
The coalition called on many Nigerians to join the civil protest, pointing out that the “protest is about the lives of our children and teachers in captivity” and the need “to demand the release of all captives and oppose the anti-people policies of the Tinubu anti-poor government, which have continued to increase poverty in the land”.
