PROTESTERS in some parts of Lagos Monday morning shunned warnings of the Nigerian Police to embark on the #RevolutionNow demonstration convened by Omoyele Sowore, former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC).
The protesters, who queried if the Federal Government is actually running a democratic system of government, marvelled at public harassments by the security operatives, the heavy security presence in Lagos and few other states across the country.
Some of the protesters, especially in Lagos, were arrested and whisked away in Police vehicles including that of the Lagos State taskforce.
Picture Source: Twitter
Sowore, Publisher of Sahara Reporters was earlier detained by the Department of State Security (DSS) on Saturday ahead of today’s planned protest.
However, there were cases of Police tear-gassing the protesters who converged near the National Stadium, Surulere Lagos, an alleged gunshot as well as a heavy military presence.
In a 24-second video, Folarin Opeyemi @opeyemifolarin1, one of the protesters who contested for House of Representative seat under the Young Progressive Party (YPP), during 2019 general election to represent Mushin Federal Constituency (2) criticised actions of the federal government on the protesters.
“Is this Democracy…..? Buhari sovereignty belongs to the people. You cannot silence us. Never!” says Opeyemi.
We are attacked by the @PoliceNG outside the national stadium few minutes some of us were arrested .#RevolutionNow#FreeSoworeNow
@segalink @adeyanjudeji@I_Am_Ilemona pic.twitter.com/YbYrTukgWF— FOLARIN OPEYEMI JOSEPH FOJ (@opeyemifolarin1) August 5, 2019
Aside from protesters, the eyewitness also shared footage of media harassment by the police operatives.
However, there is less sign of protests in a few states except for security operatives deployment to Benin, Kwara, FCT, Rivers to discourage the protesters.
Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and Human Right Lawyer had said the protest was not treasonable.
Mike Ozekhome, also a senior lawyer described Sowore’s arrest as immoral and illegal.
The protest, according to Sowore, was to call the government’s attention to injustice, insecurity and poor governance in the nation.
Olugbenga heads the Investigations Desk at The ICIR. Do you have a scoop? Shoot him an email at [email protected]. Twitter Handle: @OluAdanikin