Tag: protest

•Protesters fail to show up in Port Harcourt
•Abuja rally urges govt to fix economy by May 29
•We didn’t threaten Tuface, says police boss

Despite the publicity generated by its organisers, turnouts for yesterday’s #IStandWithNigeria #EnoughIsEnough protests were poor in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Ibadan.
There was intimidating security presence in Lagos, particularly at the National Stadium and the National Theatre, both in Surulere.
The protest, which began at about 8:30am at the stadium, concluded around 12:20pm, with the protesters hailing the police for exhibiting professionalism.
Many of the protesters, however, believed that the low turnout must have been caused by the last minute withdrawal by music star, Innocent Idibia (alias TuFace), who spearheaded the campaign.
That notwithstanding, celebrities like Seyi Law, Charley Boy, Executive Director of Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN), Gbenga Sesan and founder, Campaign for Democracy Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, joined the protesters.
The Nation gathered that as early as 6a.m., policemen blocked the entrance to the stadium, but reopened it after people who came for their routine exercises revolted.
It was gathered that the stadium management contacted Police Commissioner Fatai Owoseni, who directed his men to leave the stadium open and concentrate in ensuring a peaceful protest.
Two armoured tanks and over 20 patrol vehicles were deployed to the venues.
Anti-riot policemen, operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) and officials of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) were seen in strategic locations.
At first, the early comers felt discouraged by the poor turnout, but as soon as Dr. Okei-Odumakin arrived with her crowd and band, there was motivation.
However, the excitement was short-lived as the group marched towards Ojota, instead of the National Theatre.
To solve the confusion, the other organisers trooped towards them, having contacted them on phone. Both groups reunited midway before heading to the National Theatre.
They had placards with inscriptions such as “Invest in infrastructure”, “Create jobs”; “People die daily from lack of basic and affordable healthcare”; “There can’t be a set of rules for the poor and another set for the rich”; “There’s enough in Nigeria for all of us to chop belleful”; “Food, medicine, everything is three times more expensive but salaries have not increased” and others.
The protest was peaceful, as the protesters didn’t obstruct other road users nor prevent people from going about their businesses.
They sang solidarity songs and played socialist music, which they danced to after they were addressed by their leaders.
Owoseni, who was on ground and accompanied by the Area C Commander, Wale Abass, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), said the heavy presence of policemen was for the maintenance of law and order.
He said: “We are here to ensure that there is no breakdown of law and order. The police is never brutal because the cardinal philosophy of the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, is the respect of human rights of every citizen. It is in furtherance of our duty to protect lives and property that we mustered to the protest.
“You can see that the protest ended peacefully. There was no issue and we are happy about that.
“The police and the other security agencies have discharged their duties excellently well,” Owoseni said.
He denied the police’s involvement in TuFace’s decision to withdraw from the protest.
“Ask TuFace whether he was threatened (by the police),” Owoseni said.
In Abuja, heavily armed policemen yesterday blocked protesters at the Villa gate.
The protesters, about a hundred, who led human right activist Prof. Chidi Odinkalu and others, marched to the Presidency.
They were, however, disrupted by a pro-Buhari group at the Villa gate, where they had converged to read out their demands. The protesters later turned away and left.
The protesters, who were mostly dressed in green and danced to Fela lyrics, carried placards that read: “Missing President, if found please return to Aso Rock”; “A country has no President”; “Why are I am suffering what my parents suffered?”; Naira has lost its value” and “Plunging from N216 to $1 in March 2016 to N500 to $1”; “Poor people are finding it difficult to eat”.
Odinkalu, in a speech on behalf of the protesters, gave the Federal Government an ultimatum till May 29 to fix the economy or face a massive protest.
He said Nigerians were fed up with the situation, calling on the President to fulfil his campaign promises.
His added: “We are fed up with this situation; we are fed up with not knowing what is wrong with our President. We are fed up with not knowing where our President is; we are fed up with the lies and deceit.
“We want transparency in government. We want to know how much states are getting? How much was paid for bailout funds? How much the Federal Internal Revenue Service (FIRS) is collecting? How much the NNPC is getting and how our government is spending it.”
In Port Harcourt, hundreds of heavily-armed policemen took over the Isaac Boro Park, venue of the protest planned by civil society groups.
Riot policemen were seen at Waterlines and GRA Junctions on Aba Road, as well as other major roundabouts and junctions in Port Harcourt and its environs.
With the heavy presence of the unfriendly policemen, the protesters decided not to show up at the much-publicised venue of the rally, making Isaac Boro Park to be empty from 6 a.m. till as at the press time.
Spokesman of Rivers Police Command Nnamdi Omoni, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), insisted that the deployment of more policemen in strategic locations in Port Harcourt was to prevent the breakdown of law and order.

thereby ensuring that the planned protest was not hijacked by miscreants.

Civil society organisations (CSOs) on the platform of One Voice Nigeria yesterday concluded their Lagos arm of a national protest with a vow to carry out a bigger rally next month in Abuja.
They said the protests, which held simultaneously in several major cities around the country, was a step toward achieving a better Nigeria at all levels of government and would continue till the government listened to their grievances.
Former President, Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN), Charles Oputa, also known as Charley Boy or Area Fada, who led comedian Seyi Law and other Nigerians on the procession, said the Abuja rally will “shut down the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)”.
“Na so e go dey happen dey go until the government starts doing what we want. Next month, there will be the biggest of all rallies because we want to shut down Abuja. We’ll shut down any arm of the government that is not working for the people. We’ll send a message to them because, haven’t we suffered enough? Our mumu don do,” Oputa said.
One of the conveners and executive director, Enough Is Enough (EIE), Yemi Adamolekun, said the CSOs would deliver a letter containing about seven demands to Acting President Yemi Osinbajo in Abuja.
Adamolekun urged the Federal Government to intervene in the areas of anti-corruption, security, obedience to the rule of law, cost of governance, unemployment, poor power supply and non-supply of prepaid metres.
She said: “As for security, the government needs to show that all Nigerian lives matter. From Southern Kaduna to Biafra, it doesn’t matter what you are agitating for, as the police has protected us today, every Nigerian has the right to their safety and security.
“We keep talking about rule of law, yet we don’t obey court orders. El Zakzakay has been in jail. He’s been ordered to be released by the courts but he’s still there. That is not justice,” she said.
She urged Nigerians to take their grievances about the poor state of the economy to the offices of their elected representatives and keep them accountable.