September 30, (THEWILL) – The Police high command has placed its officers on red alert across the country as organisers of the #FearlessInOctober protests rebuffed pleas to shelve their planned hardship protest beginning nationwide on October 1st, Nigeria’s 64th Independence Day.
This round of demonstrations is coming barely eight weeks after protesters took to the streets in August under the hashtag #EndBadGovernance to demand better governance from the Bola Tinubu Administration after the removal of the subsidy on petrol and devaluation of the local currency sent the economy on a tailspin, crushing consumers and manufacturers.
The inflation rate increased by 34 per cent in June 2024, the highest in about 28 years before receding to 32 per cent in August.
In a subtle, internal message to Police commands nationwide, the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, instructed police officers in zonal and state commands to be on the standby and await further instructions.
In the wireless message cited by THEWILL, Egbetokun charged the Assistant Inspectors-General of Police in zones and Commissioners of Police across the states to take necessary steps to forestall any breakdown of law and order, including negotiating with the protesters and civil rights organisations.
According to the IGP, AIGs and CPs should be kitted in camouflage with ballistic hats in readiness for battle.
Some of the national organisers of the protest forwarded a video of their meeting to THEWILL on Sunday following our inquiry.
In it, Adegoyega Adeniji, Chairman of the Movement for Fundamental Change, MFC; Taiwo Hassan, National Leader of Education Rights and Francis Nwapa articulated the groups’ demands.
Adeniji said, “We are protesting the hazards of living in Nigeria. It is a right. The fact that we had some protests for ten days on August 1 to 10 and there was no positive take-away for the people demands that this protest should continue.”
For Hassan, the October 1 protest is an urgent call on the Federal Government to “address our demands. Unless these demands are met, more protests will follow from October 1.” He listed the demands to include: “Reversal of hike in the pump price of petrol and electricity tariff to pre-May 29, 2023 level; rejection of IMF neo-liberal policy in Nigeria; rehabilitation of government-owned refineries in order to guarantee affordable petroleum products; reduction in food prices and end to hunger; support for farmers to ensure sustainable food production; end to insecurity, banditry, terrorism and violent crimes as well as prosecution of culprits and their sponsors; a robust security architecture and adequate support for soldiers and their families.”
Francis Nwapa said the country has nothing to celebrate at 64, despite its abundant natural and human resources. The organisers of the protest lamented that the situation that triggered the 10-day August protest worsened as the pump price of petrol, which sold at N750 per litre in many states, shot up to between N989 and N1,500 per litre and the exchange rate of the Naira to the dollar hovered around N1,572 and N1,700.
Meanwhile, the National Coordinator of the Take It Back Movement, Juwon Sanyaolu, and Director of Mobilisation of the group, Damilare Adenola, reportedly said they have written to the Inspector-General of Police “To request security during the demonstration, noting that protest is a fundamental right they would not submit to any state agent.”
They said, “Mobilisation efforts have begun. Nigerians have been mobilising from different parts of the country for the protest.” In Abuja, the protesters intend to gather at the Eagles Square, the same venue where the administration has scheduled a lowkey celebration to mark Independence Day. They said protests in the various states will happen at the state capitals. In obedience to IGP’s instruction, some Commissioners of Police and Police relations groups have engaged protest organisers and called on them to shelve their planned action and embrace dialogue.
The Commissioner of Police in Kogi State, CP Bethrand C. Onuoha, engaged the executive officials of the Take it back Movement, Kogi State chapter, at the Command Headquarters in Lokoja on Sunday, urging them to shelve their action.
The CP stated that he called for the engagement meeting in response to the letter he received from the protesters on Friday, September 27, 2024. Explaining that the group has a right to peaceful protest, in accordance with extant laws, Onuoha warned that embarking on the protest would play into the “hands of disgruntled elements who might hijack the process and unleash mayhem on innocent citizens, destroy properties as well as damage critical infrastructure, which will in turn adversely impact the country’s economy.”
The leader of the group, Moses Opeyemi, assured the CP that as enlightened and law-abiding youths in Kogi State, they had accepted his advice as a father and promised to remain committed to the peace, progress and development of the state.
He stated that the executive and members of the group will meet to deliberate on all the issues raised by the CP and come up with a reasonable resolution, regarding their participation in the protest.
Present at the meeting were DCP Chike Louis Nwabuwa, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Department of Operations and his Assistant, ACP Aigbe Aghahowa, SP William Ovye Aya, PPRO SP Emmanuel Abogonye, 2ic SID/OC Monitoring Unit, DSP Christopher Okoebor, PA to CP, while members of the group include Moses Opeyemi, Coordinator, Oloruntoba Segun, Muhammed Abdul, Ande Joel, Michael John, Musa Matthew, Usman Alfa, Mohammed Usman Ahmed, Ibrahim Shaibu, and Adama Shaibu. In Katsina State, the Police Command said it had prepared ahead of time to make sure the planned nationwide protest would be peaceful.
According to Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Abubakar Sadiq, the command had prepared both human and intelligence resources to ensure safety before, during, and after the protest.
The Police Campaign against Cultism and Other Vices (POCACOV), Southwest Zone appealed to the protest organisers to, “adopt alternative measures to protests which are equally civilised ways of engaging the government. It is common knowledge that previous protests in Lagos and in the Southwest were hijacked by criminal elements for their selfish and criminal interests.”
Ambassador (Mayor) Samuel Eniola Adam, POCACOV Chairman, South-West Zone, said that recent events have shown that protests in the South-West are often used as a cover for criminal activities, such as arson, vandalism and looting.
In a related development, Governor Dapo Abiodun on Sunday called on Nigerian youths to engage the government constructively and not join those “Fanning the flames of discord,” saying that protests would not achieve anything other than looting and vandalism of public properties. “Let us be resilient, let us continue to pray, let us persevere and let us hold on to our faith in Almighty God. Let us not join those who continue to fan the flames of discord in our land and those who are calling for protests, violence and civil disobedience, which only leads to vandalism, looting, and destruction of public property. Let us engage constructively and work with the government, knowing that this administration is an inclusive one,” he said during a Special Church Service to commemorate the 64th National Day celebration, held at the Cathedral Church of St. Peter, Ake, Abeokuta.
Governor Abiodun who commended President Bola Tinubu’s decision to remove petrol subsidy, said the decision has saved Nigeria N5.4 trillion, which would have been spent at the end of 2024, adding that it would have been disastrous for Nigeria to pay such a huge amount in comparison to the Federal Government’s budget of N6.7 trillion for the same fiscal year.
