UPDATE: PROTESTERS CONVERGE AT OJOTA DESPITE PRES. TINUBU’S ADDRESS
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Despite President Bola Tinubu’s nationwide broadcast, the #EndBadGovernance demonstrators gathered at Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park in Ojota on Monday to resume their demonstration.
The organizers of the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria organizing committee, Hassan Taiwo, Ayoyinka Oni, and Adegboyega Adeniji, issued a statement on Sunday stating that President Bola Tinubu’s speech had not yet addressed their requests. This led to the decision to proceed with the pretest.
They declared that they had listened intently to President Tinubu’s Sunday broadcast and that they “consider it rather unfortunate” that the president had to address the nation after three days of protest.
Tinubu had affirmed in the nationwide broadcast on Sunday that his administration was ready to listen to and address the concerns of protesters, affirming that he had heard their calls “loud and clear.”
“I hereby enjoin protesters and the organisers to suspend any further protest and create room for dialogue, which I have always acceded to at the slightest opportunity,” the president said.
The organisers noted that they consider the decision to address the nation an “important victory for our movement.”
“Without our courage and resolve to dare the odds, even this acknowledgement would not have happened. So far, we have demonstrated that a President is not greater than the rest of the country,” the statement read.
While taking note of Tinubu’s offer of dialogue, they noted that they were concerned that in the same breadth, the President had also ordered that the protest be suspended.
“In our view, the president cannot be approbating and reprobating at the same time. The President cannot offer an olive branch while at the same time holding a dagger to our throat,” the trio said.
The statement condemned the scenario “where thugs attacked protesters who had gathered for Sunday morning worship thereby injuring many.”
It added, “So we therefore call on all Nigerian youth and mass of the people to join us by 7 am at Gani Fawehinmi Park, Ojota, Lagos tomorrow (Monday) August 5, 2024, which is Day 5 of the protest.”
The Lagos protest had been considered peaceful by the state government, but a video on Sunday captured by Channels TV showed protesters being chased by hoodlums at Ojota a few hours after the President’s address.
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