BREAKING! BREAKING!! BREAKING!!! AUGUST 1-10 NATIONWIDE PROTEST IS A DRESS REHEARSAL THE STRUGGLE TO END BAD GOVERNANCE CONTINUES UNTIL ALL DEMANDS ARE MET!

 

BY LEO EZEKIEL

We commend thousands of Nigerian youths, the poor, workers, and oppressed masses who came out in Lagos and across the country from Thursday, 1st, to Saturday, 10th August 2024, during the nationwide peaceful protest against the prevailing conditions of hunger and hardships in Nigeria. Although none of our demands have been met, we believe the 10 Days of Rage was a huge successful protest both in terms of how it reinforced the fundamental rights of Nigerians to peaceful assembly and in terms of the support and participation it received while it lasted. In many parts of the country, including the bustling megacity of Lagos state, the first few days of the protest produced a condition of partial strike with schools, government offices, banks, and financial institutions shut down, and vehicular traffic halted. 

Additionally, the fact that the protest compelled President Bola Tinubu, who initially considered our agitations unworthy of his attention, to address a national broadcast on Sunday, 4 August 2024, is an indication of the power of the movement. President Tinubu – A Budding Civilian Dictator. However, we note with dismay that this protest has unfolded in an environment of a severely shrunken civic space and outlines of a budding civilian dictatorship. Everything was thrown at us to vilify, demonize and criminalize the rights to freedom of assembly. 

In addition to threatening to unleash mayhem on us, including the deployment of the sacred ‘oro’ masquerade, the government in Lagos and a few other States arm-twisted the judiciary to obtain court injunctions restricting the rights to peaceful protests to designated parks and by so doing limiting the ability of hungry and frustrated Nigerians to freely express their displeasure at the state of things. We are happy to inform members of the public that the movement, together with its team of lawyers, is making legal preparations to challenge these fraudulent, anti-democratic rulings and sweep them off the surface of the Nigerian shores. Peaceful protesters were calumniated and the right to protest itself criminalized. 

Security agencies procured false security reports and fake intelligence about so-called foreign sponsorship of the protests, all to equate protest, which is a civic obligation in a democracy, with terrorism. In Lagos state, a phantom bomb conveniently placed at Ikeja a few hours before the start of the protest was allegedly defused by the police - all parts of a ploy to create panic and force protesters to stay indoors out of fear. This is alongside other acts of deliberate misinformation and disinformation carried out by the government in direct violation of the Cybercrime Act. Infiltration and Sabotage. For instance, letterheads of youths and civil society groups were forged by state and non-state actors to either call off the protest before it started or suspend it while it was on. In Lagos state, for instance, a certain Barrister JP, whom we now know to be a secret agent working for Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Governor of Lagos State, pretended to be a protester and went on live Television on Sunday, 4 August 2024, to announce a suspension of the protest. Also, State and non-state actors deliberately spread rumors that the organisers of the protest in Lagos had written a letter to the Commissioner of Police informing them that the protest had been suspended. 

Of course, this is NOT TRUE! Sadly, this is one of the many examples of how low the government and security agencies went in a desperate bid to undermine and sabotage the protests in Lagos State and other parts of the country. This is aside billions of naira distributed in almost every streets across Lagos state by ruling party (APC) faithful and government officials in order to derail the protest. It is interesting that nowhere across the country did the police and security agencies make an effort to arrest any of the known and unknown faces who threatened peaceful protesters, including those who tried to sow ethnic division by targeting people of Southeastern extraction. This is in spite of the fact that some of these threats are on record. At least, there was a video which circulated on social media showing a band of thugs going round markets in Lagos to warn traders from joining the protest. Neither were any of the state-sponsored good- for-nothing-oafs who followed up on these threats by attacking peaceful protesters during the 10 days of rage ever arrested.

We demand the release of all political detainees for a Public Probe!. Yet over 1,135 protesters were arrested, while over 40 were killed nationwide by the police and other security agencies. We hereby demand the immediate and unconditional release of all those arrested, including the National Coordinator of the Youth Rights Campaign (YRC), Comrade Michael Adaramoye Lenin, and Musiu Sodiq. We commiserate with the families of those who paid the supreme sacrifice and call for the immediate sack of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, for the use of live rounds by his men, which resulted in mindless killings. 

We shall continue to hold President Tinubu responsible for the deaths even as we demand adequate compensation for the families of the deceased. We note that the frantic attempts by the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, to manufacture evidences to support the phantom intelligence that the #EndBadGovernance protest was motivated by foreign nations. This effort is cynically utilizing national security to criminalize and demonize protest will only end in disgrace for President Bola Tinubu's regime. As we have repeatedly made clear, the sponsors of the protest are the state of hunger and hardships in the country. 

If the government does not want another round of protest, now is the best time for her to focus on fixing the problems and meeting demands instead of chasing shadows. Despite our best intentions to have a peaceful protest, unfortunately, the protest became violent, with acts of looting and vandalism occurring in several parts of the country. It is very important to state very clearly here that the #EndBadGovernance movement abhors violence as a method of struggle. However, before any verdict is passed, it is crucial that a probe is conducted. This is crucial considering what we know of security agencies' penchant for infiltrating protests and planting agent provocateurs to commit acts of violence and vandalism, which they then blame on the protesters. It is to the credit of the movement that these antics are defeated in Lagos State, although not without many peaceful protesters suffering injuries during several acts of unprovoked attacks by state-sponsored thugs and good- for-nothing-oafs under the watchful eyes of the police.

To this extent, we call for the setting up of an open and independent probe panel democratically constituted by elected representatives of progressive and human rights groups, youth organizations, professional bodies, trade unions, faith-based and community associations, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), security agencies, the media and government officials to investigate the remote and immediate causes of the violence with a view to unravelling the roles of state and non-state actors. We are not Done Yet!. Whatever its impacts and successes, the 10-day protest is just a dress rehearsal, in other words, the first chapter in a long-drawn struggle to end bad governance in Nigeria and replace it with Good Governance at all levels. 

Therefore, no one should think we are done. Within a very short period, new rounds of nationwide protests shall be announced in order to continue the fight until all demands are met. These demands include the reversal of fuel price hike, reversal of electricity tariff hike, action to reduce soaring prices of food and commodities, adequate funding of public education and health, payment of unemployment allowance and creation of decent jobs, payment of a living wage, placement of all political office holders on the national minimum wage, scrapping of security vote, first ladyship office and other unmerited privileges of the corrupt capitalist elite, prosecution of corrupt officials and return of all stolen wealth, reversal of privatization in the power and other sectors, et cetera. 

In the meantime, the #EndBadGovernance movement is undergoing internal reflection, re-evaluation, re-organization and rebuilding in order to come out stronger during the next round of nationwide street protests. We, therefore, urge all progressive, radical and Socialist groups, unions and individuals who played critical roles in the 10 days of protest to remain steadfast despite the climate of fear and repressions even as the movement continues to consolidate for the battle that impends. We thank the courageous men and women of the press for their efforts at documenting the protest and also disseminating news despite the risk to them. 

Unbeknownst to you, your presence with your ever-ready cameras might have saved many lives by cautioning the police and other security agencies from displaying their worst power drunk excesses. We also extend fraternal solidarity to the labour movement, most especially the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), whose National Secretariat was invaded by security forces On Wednesday 7 August, 2024, in yet another display of executive recklessnesses by the President Tinubu regime. 

We believe that the struggle against the anti-poor policies of the Tinubu regime and for an end to bad governance is a struggle not just for the youths, but, also for Nigerian workers. We earnestly look forward to the unity of the youths and the working class in the struggle against hunger and hardships. We shall continue to update the public about every other step in our long march to end bad governance in Nigeria. This document are signed by the following Comrades Hassan Taiwo Soweto, Oloye Adegboyega Adeniji, Adamma Ukpabi, Seyi Akinde, Peluola Adewale.

For and on behalf of the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria movement, Lagos State.