A combined team of security forces, including Army, Police, Air Force and the Civil Defence Corps, on Monday morning disrupted a planned peaceful protest by a Coalition for Revolution (CORE) organsed by Omoyele Sowore, 2019 Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in Lagos.
Several people were reportedly injured and hundreds said to have been arrested as the protesters claimed that the security fired life bullets at them.
The protests, meant to be nationwide and continuous, was to mobilise citizens for a better Nigeria, where democracy and rule of law would thrive through free and fair elections to usher in improved economic development of the country.
Sowore, the point-man for the #RevolutionNow protests, it would be recalled, was arrested in a Lagos hotel, where he retained an apartment, preparatory for the protests by operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS) and was reportedly taken to Abuja.
This was as the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, declared that Sowore’s action amounted to treasonable felony, alleging that the political activist was planning to change an elected government of President Muhammadu Buhari, through an illegal way.
Thousands of the protesters, made up of activists, civil society groups and young politicians, who had assembled at the National Stadium, Surulere, as early as 7.a.m, were prevented from accessing the facility, which had been earmarked as the take-off point for the peaceful protest.
Before the encounter with the security forces, the protesters called for the release of Sowore, the convener of the movement.
As the protesters, most of them adorning berets, marched on, singing solidarity songs, the combined team of the security agents fired teargas canisters at them, as many scampered for safety.
At the popular Ojuelegba roundabout, the security agents, numbering over 1, 000 formed a brickwall, preventing the militant protesters from going further, even as the people tried to mobilise to cross over to Yaba area, en route Freedom Square in Ojota.
Mr. Tijani Fatai, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Area Commander, Area C, Lagos, told newsmen at the National Statdium that he and his men were there to stop any form of protests at the stadium.
He explained that their presence was not to give any form of security cover to the protesters, but to stop them, even as he advised the crowd in front of the National Stadium gate to stay away.
This was as Mr. Mohammed Ali, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations), Lagos State Police Command, also stressed that the protesters did not obtain the necessary permit to carry out the protest.
According to him, “their planned protest is unlawful. They did not obtain permission for the protest. If they say they have the permission, let them show it. Any one that foment trouble will be dealt with according to law.”
Sowore, it would be recalled, had been speaking against poor implementation of policies, violence, tribal sentiments, insecurity and bad governance since President Buhari took over the mantle of leadership in 2015.
He also created #RevolutionNow, a hash tag, popularly accepted by many social media users as a tool to fight, correct and criticise Buhari-led government
Speaking to NEXT EDITION exclusively, Comrade Fatai Oluseni, spokesperson for the Coalition for Revolution, and a chieftain of the AAC, lamented that the security agents shut at unarmed and defenceless citizens, including bystanders who had nothing to do with the protest.
He stated that hundreds of the protesters were hit by life bullets between the National Stadium and Ojuelegba, while several were arrested.
He, however, could not say the condition of the injured, as at press time.
He said: “The security forces disrupted the protest. They shot at several people, arrested hundreds of people. I cannot give you the number now. But, we are committed to the protest.
“The actions by the security agents were really not unexpected as they had earlier arrested our leader, Omoyele Sowore, and had been threatening us in various ways.”
He maintained that the action by the security agents on Monday notwithstanding, the protests, which he stressed would be continuous would continue, not only in Lagos, but in parts of the country.
Sowore had in an exclusive interview with NEXT EDITION on the eve of his arrest, disclosed that over 25 states had signed in to the protests, which was endorsed by Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka and several activists and civil society organisations.
He stressed that the protests were not about him, but the need to liberate Nigerians from bad governance to usher in a new order of proper democratic culture in the country.
However, the Presidency, in response to the nationwide protest, maintained that the only way to change government in a democracy was through the electoral process.
The Presidency, which spoke through Mallam Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on Media and Publicity, said the government would always welcome peaceful protests by the citizenry to express their grievances, but maintained that peaceful protest was different from incitement for revolution.
However, Comrade Debo Adeniran, Executive Chairman, Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), told NEXT EDITION that people have the right to protest, and to exercise their freedom of association and holding opinions.
He said that the security forces as well as the DSS, should have been on the sideline, monitoring the protests, instead of stopping them forcefully with life bullets and teargas canisters, thereby exposing the people to death and injuries unnecessarily.
Adeniran also maintaned that it was wrong for the DSS to have arrested Sowore, stressing that he had not committed any offence in his call for a revolution, which he stressed amounted to holding an opinion.
According to him, “Sowore has the right to hold opinion and free to associate with whoever he likes as guaranteed by the Constitution. He has not done anything illegal. He did not say he wanted to change the government of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“He did not make any broadcast to the effect that he wanted to change the government. The Federal Government could be sued for its action against Sowore. He should be granted administrative bail and allowed to reunite with his family.”
