It comes on the day (1 October) Nigeria marks its 64th Independence Anniversary, with the protesters tagging it National Day of Survival to reflect the economic hardship millions of Nigerians are grappling with
Thousands of Nigerians are expected to converge across different Nigerian cities on Tuesday to protest against what they described as bad policies and programmes of President Bola Tinubu-led administration.
It comes on the day (1 October) Nigeria marks its 64th Independence Anniversary, with the protesters tagging it National Day of Survival to reflect the economic hardship millions of Nigerians are grappling with and register their protest against the situation.
President Tinubu had ordered a low key celebration of the Independence Day amidst high cost of living and a struggling economy.
The 1 October protest follows a 10-day #EndBadGovernance protests held in many states in August, calling for an end to bad governance and rising costs of living. The government arrested and detained some of the protesters and charged at least 10 of them with treason.
In a joint statement, a group of about 10 organisations has called on Nigerians to troop out en masse and protest peacefully across the country.
The groups include The Youth Rights Campaign (YRC), Movement for Fundamental Change (MFC), Joint Action Front (JAF), Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), and Yoruba Revolutionary Movement (YOREM).
Others are Coalition for Concerned Nigerian Citizens (CCNC), Initiative for a Better and Brighter Nigeria (IBBN), Movement for African Emancipation (MAE), Pan-African Consciousness Renaissance (PACOR-Nigeria), Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR).
The Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has also ordered a ‘water tight’ security across the nation.
The Defence Headquarters also said on Monday that troops had been placed on alert to support the police during today’s nationwide protest.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), meanwhile, has cautioned the security agencies against violating the rights of citizens to protest.
Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Tony Ojukwu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, condemned the widespread arrests, harassment, and killing of protesters during the August #EndBadGovernance protest.
PREMIUM TIMES
Comment here