PUNCH
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- IG claims foreign infilteration, youths accuse DSS of freezing account
- Shelve your demonstration, Tantita boss, Tompolo, begs organisers
As momentum continues to gather ahead of the planned nationwide #EndBadGovernance protest, some organisers, who all the while were tagged ‘faceless’, have revealed their identities, Saturday PUNCH reports.
They also insisted that they remained undaunted and would hit the streets on August 1 to demonstrate against bad governance, hardship and hunger.
The groups, numbering at least 26, have made it known that they would take to the streets to protest the prevailing hardship, hunger, and bad governance.
Saturday PUNCH gathered that the groups had also written to at least 20 state governments, seeking permission to use state infrastructure to carry out their civic duty.
Some of the groups, Saturday PUNCH can confirm, include Concerned Nigerians, Nigerians Against Hunger, Initiative for Change, Take it Back Movement, Revolution Now, Human Rights Co-Advocacy Group, Nigerians Against Corruption Initiative, Citizens for Change Advocacy Initiative, Timely Intervention, and Active Citizens Group.
Others include Students for Change, We Coalition, Total Intervention, Refurbished Nigeria, Tomorrow Today, Our Future in Our Own Hands Initiative, Youths Against Tyranny, and Call a Spade a Spade Movement, among others.
Several others, who spoke to our correspondents but chose to remain anonymous, numbered over six, including an all-female group.
One of the organisers, who is the Convener of the Revolution Now Movement, Mr Omoyele Sowore, released a list of locations for the upcoming #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest, scheduled to take place in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
He said the protest was aimed at bringing attention to the country’s governance issues.
Sowore, a former presidential candidate, urged Nigerians wishing to participate in the campaign to add their towns or cities if they had not already been listed.
He announced the designated locations for the protest in various states including Lagos, Kano, Bauchi, Enugu, Jigawa, Ekiti, Cross River, and the Federal Capital Territory, among others.
The listed locations include Ikorodu, Lagos Island, Lekki/Ajah axis, Badagry, Ikeja, and Epe in Lagos State; Kano main town in Kano State; Azare and Bauchi town in Bauchi State; Enugu city and Nsukka in Enugu State; and Dutse and Kazaure in Jigawa State.
Also listed were Ado-Ekiti and Ikere Ekiti in Ekiti State; Calabar in Cross River State, and Gwagalada and Central Business District in the Federal Capital Territory, among others.
Another organiser, who is the Director of Mobilisation, Take it Back Movement, FCT, Damilare Adenola, said the protest was backed by several groups in the country.
“This is not about one group or another. It is about angry and hungry Nigerians who are tired of this system. Protest is our right. Nobody can take it away from us. We have already written to the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, to avail us of the National Stadium built with taxpayers’ money for our peaceful demonstration,” he said.
The group had written to Wike on Friday to grant them the use of Eagle Square for the proposed #EndBadGovernance protest scheduled to be held from August 1 to 10.
They demanded provision of 24-hour power supply, toilet facilities, water, and security for the convenience of citizens who would be camped out at the location.
The statement titled, ‘Request for use of Eagle Square Abuja for #EndBadGovernance protest,’ read, “As one of the groups organizing the forthcoming #EndBadGovernance protest, #DaysOfRage starting from August 1st to 10th, 2024, we at the Take It Back Movement write to your esteemed office to notify you of our decision to use Eagle Square as a point of convergence for patriotic Nigerians to demand better governance.”
A representative of Nigerians Against Hunger, Tunde Thomas, speaking to Saturday PUNCH, said Nigeria was tired of the hunger in the land, adding that the government should intervene.
“Our demands are simple – End hunger. We cannot be the most populous Black nation in the world and be hungry,” he said.
The Secretary-General of the Initiative for Change, Mr Ocean Panem, said the August 1 protest was not a riot but a way to “echo the voices of all Nigerians.”
“The country is in a mess. We need to recognise that. Members of our group are mostly in the Middle Belt and in Cross River. We would come out en masse and make sure we don’t stop till our demands are met,” he said.
A student group leader, who did not want to be named for fear of victimisation, said members of her group, who are mostly law students and students of history, would storm the streets on August 1 to protest.
Nobody can stop protest – Northern group
Speaking in an interview with Saturday PUNCH, the National Chairman of the Northern Comrades Movement of Nigeria, Jabir Yaro, said, “Nothing will stop this protest. Nobody in this world can stop this protest. It will happen and everybody should come out en masse to protest. No level of intimidation will stop us.
Reacting to the withdrawal from the planned protest by another northern group, he said, “Those were APC boys who were paid for propaganda; we are the youth leaders, and we are set for this protest. We are expecting millions of people for this protest. We have informed the security agencies, and we are ready for it.”
Youths accuse DSS of freezing account
The Take it Back Movement in a post on X accused the DSS of freezing its United Bank of Africa account to starve it of funds.
