Organisers of the #EndBadGovernance protests against economic hardship say the nationwide rallies which entered the third day on Saturday will continue till President Bola Tinubu addresses their demands.
Damilare Adenola, Director of Mobilisation of Take It Back Movement, a non-governmental organisation, stated this on Channels Television
In an interesting twist, Adenola said human rights lawyer Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa does not speak for his group though the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) had written security agencies to seek protection for them before the rallies.
The youth activist said his group won’t suspend the 10-day protests despite Adegboruwa’s pleas that the demonstrations be called off because fifth columnists have infiltrated the rallies to wreak havoc.
He said the protests might exceed 10 days depending on the response of the government.
Adenola said, “Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa is not our lawyer and he doesn’t speak for us. He might have presented himself as the solicitor but he is not hungry. He is a senior advocate of Nigeria who lives well. He is not hungry like the people taking over the streets.”
“We are waiting for the government to respond to us and address our demands. And until then, the protests continue,” he said, adding that though the demands of protesters have not been addressed, a statement has been made to the government of the day.
He said the protests have shown Nigerians they can hold their leaders accountable.
Asked whether the protests were being sponsored by anyone, he said the sponsors of these protests were hunger and economic deprivation.
Adenola said if the Federal Government is sincere and concerned with the plights of the people, the President would have addressed the demands of the protesters by now.
On the first and second day of the protests, policemen were seen dispersing the demonstrators, mostly youths, using tear gas, even as civil society organisations (CSOs) condemned the action of the police.
The protests turned ugly when some hoodlums took advantage of the demonstrations and looted public and private assets.
In a bid to curb the looting, violence and other after-effects of the protests, the Kano, Borno, Yobe, Katsina, Nasarawa, Jigawa and other state governments imposed curfews in volatile local government areas (LGAs) in their states.
Some deaths have also been recorded, as claimed by Amnesty International. The Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun said a policeman was murdered, some cops injured, and police stations burnt.
The Nationwide protests against economic hardship started on Thursday, August 1, 2024, and have been scheduled to stretch till August 10 across all states
