Dozens of youths in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, on Tuesday joined their counterparts across the country to protest against what they described as President Bola Tinubu's anti-people policies.
The protesters, who condemned the elimination of the fuel subsidy, the increase in electricity rates, the high cost of living and government waste, sought to reverse policies to improve people's living conditions.
The protesters were led by the leadership of the “Take It Back Movement”, a socio-political movement founded by the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 general elections, Omoyele Sowore.
As early as 9:16 a.m., protesters had blocked the popular Mokola roundabout in Ibadan.
They carried banners and larger banners with various inscriptions such as: “Hunger Dey”, “We are hungry”, “End bad governance now” and “Revolution now”.
Ibadan protests
The participants speak
Speaking to PREMIUM TIMES on the ground of the protest, Solomon Emiola, one of the conveners of the protest in Ibadan, said unmet demands in the previous protests informed the decision to organize another protest tagged #EndBadGovernance 2.0.
Emiola said the group will not stop protesting until all demands are met.
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He said anti-people policies implemented by the government at all levels have prevented Nigerians from achieving real independence, saying policymakers at all levels have consistently made life miserable for citizens.
He said: “In reality, we are still dependent because all anti-people policies violate the ethics and laws of humanity. The cost of living is prohibitively expensive and we no longer receive any education or oil subsidies. This is destroying our future, that's why we protest.
Ibadan protests
“The solutions to all our problems in this country are: the presidency should reactivate all our refineries, all our privatized assets should be nationalized and they should cut ties with the IMF and the World Bank.”
Responding to the president's 64th Independence Day speech, Take-It-Back movement state public relations officer Ekanem Goodwill said the promise of youth collusion is a distraction from the ongoing protests across the country. , citing the federal government's history of broken promises. .
“We are not going to fall into their trap because they cannot silence us. It's not that the government has been making promises today. It is a game known since 1960. Seeing is believing,” said Mr. Ekanem.
Ibadan protests
Ground security operations
The protest ground was monitored and guarded by officers of the Nigeria Police, Nigerian Army and the Western Nigeria Security Network (Amotekun).
Speaking to PREMIUM TIMES via WhatsApp, the Public Relations Officer of the Oyo State Police Command, Adewale Osifeso, said the constitution recognized deliberate efforts guided by standard practices to be put in place to prevent “individuals or groups of minded sinister take over the process in the various places designated for peaceful processions.”
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“Our area commanders across the Command have been directed to personally lead convoy patrols in their respective jurisdictions in an attempt to increase levels of supervision of field operations under their supervision during this period,” he said. Osyphesus.
The protesters' demands include: ending hunger in the country, reversing the increase in tuition fees, improving funding for education, reversing the removal of the fuel subsidy, reversing the removal of the electricity subsidy, and liberation from all the #EndBadGovernence protesters across the country. inter alia.
Did Tinubu's 64th independence anniversary speech address all your concerns?
– Newslodge(@PremiumTimesng) October 1, 2024