Several people were injured while many Nigerians including journalists were arrested and brutalised by the police during protests against the alleged ineptitude of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration on Monday.
The protesters also demanded the release of the Convener of the #RevolutionNow, Omoyele Sowore, being detained by the Department of State Services for “threatening national security and public safety” by calling for a protest under the hashtag #RevolutionNow.
#RevolutionNow, according to its sponsors, is a civil advocacy and democratic action convened to challenge “the ravenous revolution of the ruling elite that have for decades put our nation and the common man in bondage.”
They urged Nigerians to come out in their large numbers for the protests on Monday. Consequently, Nigerians in Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja, Ondo and Osogbo trooped out in large numbers for the protests.
Some protesters also took the action to the Nigerian High Commission in London.
In a video of the UK protesters posted on the internet on Monday, they demanded Sowore’s release. Instead of detaining Sowore, the UK protesters called on the security operatives to vent their anger on the Boko Haram fighters in the Sambisa Forest and kidnappers troubling Nigerians.
In Lagos, the #RevolutionNow protesters converged on Ojuelegba at 7am from where they moved to the National Stadium, Surulere. However, the group was prevented from entering the stadium by a team of OP MESA consisting men of the army, navy, air force, and policemen from different formations in Lagos, who had barricaded the facility.
Despite the heavy security presence, the protesters gathered in front of the complex, singing solidarity songs and calling for Sowore’s release.
Afterwards, some of the protesters engaged the policemen in a war of words, as they insisted that the demonstration was for the interest of all Nigerians.
As the verbal war degenerated , the furious policemen fired tear gas canisters into the crowd.
In the ensuing melee, many of the protesters were injured as some fled into the waiting hands of men of the Lagos State Taskforce on Environment and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit. They were hauled into the task force’s Black Maria.
Among those arrested were reporters with Sahara Reporters, a United States-based online medium owned by Sowore.
An Assistant Commissioner of Police, Tijani Fatai, while justifying the police action, said the gathering was unlawful.
“We had to dislodge them because they don’t have any permit; nobody permitted them. There will be no gathering here (at the stadium) because nobody has asked for permission from the police to gather, peaceful or not-peaceful. So, it is an unlawful assembly,” he told reporters at the protest.
Addressing journalists afterwards, the National Secretary of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Olayinka Folarin, said civil societies did not need police permission to protest.
He said, “We assembled in a lawful manner at the front of the stadium. But the military and the police dispersed us; they shot tear gas at us. They arrested some of our people, including journalists. They whisked them away to an unknown location. Some of our people sustained injuries.
“Nigerians want the government to fulfil all its promises during the electioneering. We are also asking for the immediate and unconditional release of Omoyele Sowore, who is just a messenger in this struggle.
“The word revolution is a predated statement that was even used by the people in government today, including President Muhammadu Buhari. In 2012, Goodluck Jonathan did not stop our nationwide protest at Ojota, and the people in the present government participated. They have become tyrannical and have started unleashing mayhem and terror on the good people of Nigeria after they took office.”
The rights activist said the group was not interested in a regime change or removal of the President, but changes that would end insecurity, youth unemployment, among other ills.
At the Lagos protests on Monday were two controversial Nigerian musicians, Charles Chukwuemeka popularly known as Charly Boy and Eedris Abdulkareem.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command, Bala Elkana, said the police used “minimum force” on the protesters, adding that no one was shot.
“We have nine suspects in our custody and we are still investigating,” he said.