August 04, (THEWILL) – As the scheduled 10-Day protest entered Day Four on Sunday, there was no telling how it would end. The first three days had been marred by violence and looting in five northern states, namely Kano, Yobe, Borno, Nasarawa and three Niger, resulting in a 24-hour curfew in the first three states, though it was relaxed in Kano on Friday to enable worshippers attend mosque.
The Presidency in a statement on Saturday night said, President Bola Tinubu will address the nation in a broadcast on Sunday at 7am in what appears to be bid to reassure angry Nigerians that his administration is working hard to ease the economic hardship in the country.
About 26 persons have reportedly died with 400 individuals arrested since Thursday. At least N350 billion is estimated to be lost daily during the protests, according to Mr Paul Alajje Chief Economist at SPM professionals, a business consultant management firm in Lagos.
In some states where there were no protesters, social and economic activities were scanty as people chose to stay indoors and keep their business outlets under lock and key.
On day three, which was the day one of the organisers of the nationwide protest, lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Ebun Adegboruwa, had projected the protest would end, the protests slowed down, compared to what it was at the beginning on August 1. Still, the protesters insisted on continuing the protest until President Bola Tinubu listens their demand to reverse petrol subsidy removal and cut cost of governance.
Precious Oluchi, who articulated the views of protesters at the Gani Fawehinmi Park in Ojota, Lagos, told journalists: “Nobody can tell us when to stop the protests as there is no leader in this protest, but all hungry Nigerians are participating as equals, until the President take the price of fuel to N200 per litre.”
In Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, a spokesperson, Oscar Abe, spoke in similar language, “This is a planned protest, yet the government is ignoring the demands of the people. If the president does not address Nigerians, we will not leave this place.”
In Yola, Adamawa State, Bilyaminu Nuhu, a convener of the TakeItBack Movement, said the protest would continue until the Federal Government addressed their demands.
Former Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, who joined the protesters in Jos, the Plateau State capital, said, “We will not stop the protest until the President comes out to address the people.” Mr Adegboruwa, who took a phone call from THEWILL, but refused to explain further on the dynamics playing out on the streets, beyond merely confirming that he issued the statement calling for three days for the protest because he thought it had been “hijacked by sponsored agents,” appealed to the protesters to withdraw from their various protest grounds and to suspend the protests “immediately and indefinitely, to give room for meaningful dialogue and engagement with the government.”
Alarmingly, the Director of Mobilisation, TakeItBack Movement, which Adegboruwa holds brief for, Damilare Adenola, said the protest would continue until President Bola Tinubu met their demands. Adenola said, “The various orders of court restricting protesters to particular locations are an aberration. Our presence here today is an announcement that we have been oppressed for too long. Today, we have risen.
“We are saying that unless President Bola Tinubu accedes to our demands, we will remain on the streets. We want to see the President on the streets. During the protest, he was on the streets.”
Meanwhile, pro-government protesters strangely “protesting against protest,” were seen arriving at the MKO National Stadium in Abuja, which was earlier cleared for protesters
by the courts, in some 16-seater buses. But they ended up complaining about hardship and demanded the balance of N3,000 of the N5,000 per head that they were promised by their sponsors.
BATTLELINE
With the stated responses, the protesters appeared to have drawn a battle line with the government. But the security authorities think otherwise. The protest is turning increasingly violent in their estimation.
Ogunmola Bolaji Joshua, a security intelligence and risk management analyst with G4S Security Nigeria Limited, thinks so too. He told THEWILL on Friday that in every gathering of angry people, there are possibilities of violence breaking out. “Now that we hear that the protesters are saying they will continue until President Tinubu addresses them. I think it is incumbent on the governors of the states to step in and take charge by addressing them and channeling their grievances to the President.
The dynamics of crowd and mobs control means that you have to take into consideration that the goodwill and ill will of the people will be present in the mob. All of them would come out together as though they wanted to protest, just like the young man among the protesters in Abuja who was arrested on Thursday for wielding a knife. If the crowd becomes violent, government security should be able to take charge and restore order.
Cautiously, he argued that security should be made available to people as part of their democratic rights and “we will all be better for it.”
Protesters, he restated, should follow the peaceful protest that they claim they are organising.
“They said they want to protest peacefully, which is okay because one of the ways of reaching out to the government when citizens feel that things are not going right is to protest. The point is that when the protest turns violent as it has done in some states, it is left for the security agencies to step in and restore order. “Citizens forced to stay at home, particularly workers, can work from home at the moment as long as data is available to power their electronic devices. I think the security agents are well briefed. They should sustain the manner they have handled the protests. You have some police commissioners in Edo and Lagos States interacting with the protesters. It is also the duty of the police to help people maintain the peace,” he said.
On Friday, after a review, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa warned that the army may consider a request for support by the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, because the protest was getting out of hand. He said the army may have to step in to assist the police to restore order.
General Musa said in part, “I want to appeal once again for the support of all Nigerians, the Federal Government, state governments and local government councils and let us avoid anything that will bring mayhem within our communities.
“We have seen the level of destruction that was carried out just yesterday and you can imagine if this continues for so long.
“The armed forces and the entire security agencies will not stand by and see that to continue.
“We want to warn those that are in the house, those that don’t want to listen, we will not fold our hands and see our country destroyed.
“We will take action and the action will be taken professionally. Anyone that is caught will be taken to the courts to be dealt with.
”Egbetokun, had announced that he was placing all police units on red alert following incidents of violence recorded in the ongoing protest. He also disclosed that the Force was also considering seeking assistance from the Nigerian military to halt the violence in some states
REACTIONS
Supporting the call for the protest not to degenerate into violence, Executive Director of Commonwealth Institute of Advanced and Professional Studies, CIAP, Professor Anthony
Kila, however, submitted that protest in a democracy is legitimate to draw the attention of the government to its failings.
Given that the motivation for the protest rests on the existential problems in the country, he said, “One of the marks of leadership in such circumstances is to avoid protest through dialogue and not by propaganda and threats, before it escalates. “We need a listening government with a channel of communication to listen to issues raised by its citizens. Ideally government should route things through the representatives of the people in parliament, just as the people can also table demands through their representatives but unfortunately something is wrong somewhere
For Professor Bode Sowande, writer and playwright, citizens and leaders alike in the country need to embrace a communal system that is pyramidal in structure in addressing issues of national importance. He told THEWILL that such a structure would involve the grassroots and their leaders in a manner that sensitises, mobilises and engages everybody to the issues at stake at every moment.
“That way the technocratic approach to dealing with serious issues always and the electronic tyranny of the social media will be mediated by the collective input by everyone from bottom to the top,” he said.
A 36- member coalition added a dimension to the dynamics of the ongoing protest when they observed that access to the Internet in Nigeria has been intentionally disrupted following the protests. In the joint statement copied to the Office of the National Security Advisor, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Nigerian Communications Commission and Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria and made available to THEWILL on Friday, they said that “a joint reading of investigative reports by the Foundation for Investigative Journalism fij.ng, Peoples Gazette and individual measurements by netizens, using Internet measurement tools, have revealed throttling of Internet speed nationwide, aimed at slowing down information dissemination.”
They contended that this action “constitutes an unacceptable breach of established norms and standards under regional and international human rights instruments to which Nigeria
is a state party and must be halted forthwith.”
The Federal Government has continued to appeal to protesters to exercise patience and await its ongoing reforms designed to address the issues of governance contained in their demands.
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, last Thursday appealed that the government was ready for dialogue. Minister of State for Police Affairs, Imaan SulaimanIbrahim, while leading some pro-government protesters in Abuja, reiterated the official position that it met a parlous economy, which the President is working hard to turn around through reforms on its Hope Agenda.
AT THE RECEIVING END
For doing their constitutionally assigned duty to report the protest, inform and update their audiences, journalists have been injuried, arrested or had their working tools destroyed.
The details of the incidents as documented by the International Press Centre’s Safety of Journalists Alert Desk include: Lagos State- Benard Akede of News Central Television was
interrupted and harassed by Police officers and LCC officials who barred him and other journalists from interviewing anyone during a live broadcast.
Ibrahim Isah, TVC News Correspondent, was physically assaulted by hoodlums who were armed with dangerous weapons, while covering the protest in Kano. He sustained injuries on his hand.
A vehicle belonging to Channels Television and conveying about eleven (11) journalists, including Isah, was vandalised. The journalists on board were traumatised by the unfortunate incident.
Yakubu Mohammed of Premium Times was attacked and injured by Police officers who hit him with the butt of their gun and their batons and caused injuries to his head while
covering the protest in Abuja.
Cameras belonging to journalists were also destroyed by Police officers. Jide Oyekunle, a photojournalist with Daily Independent was arrested and his mobile phone seized by Police officers.
Mary Adeboye of News Central Television was also affected by tear gas thrown by Police officers while covering the protest in the FCT
Hoodlums in Calabar, Cross River State, launched an attack on journalists, seriously injuring Nigerian Tribune reporter, Joseph Abasi-Abasi. The hoodlums targeted an 18-seater bus belonging to the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) that was transporting food items to the Ernest Etim Press Centre in Calabar. Jonathan Ugbal of Cross River Watch was arrested by the Police, beaten and taken to an unknown destination in Calabar. He was later released.
Matthew Ochei of Punch Newspaper, Monday Osayande of Guardian Newspaper and a Pointer reporter, Lucy, were attacked by anti-protest protesters who arrived at the location
of the protest and chased away protesters amidst security agencies. The journalists were taking photoshots and conducting interviews when the allegedly pro-government
protesters smashed their gadgets and attacked them.
The Press Freedom Officer of IPC, Melody Akinjiyan called on all concerned security agencies, especially the Nigeria Police Force, to investigate the attacks and bring the perpetrators to justice, saying that, “The rights of journalists to cover and report protests and other societal activities as guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution and various regulatory frameworks have not been respected as expected.”
Amos Esele is the Acting Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.
Abdullahi Yusuf is a seasoned journalist, communicator and was previously the Deputy Editor-In-Chief and Zonal Manager, News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, Jos, where he retired on December 15, 2021
