The demonstration tagged national day of action, took place simultaneously across major cities in Nigeria in commemoration of the first anniversary of the #RevolutionNow Movement, which held on August 5, 2019, and saw citizens take to the streets in a peaceful manner to demand better governance from the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
You would recall that several protesters were on August 5th 2019 arrested at the National Stadium in Lagos after a crowd gathered to begin #RevolutionNow, a series of planned protests against bad governance in Nigeria.
The Nigerian government also arrested and detained Omoyele Sowore, a key organiser of the protest and accused him and his co-defendant of committing conspiracy to commit a treasonable felony in breach of section 516 of the Criminal Code Act by allegedly staging “a revolution campaign aimed at removing the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Despite the deployment of heavy security across major points in the Federal Capital Territory ( FCT ) to truncate a scheduled protest by #RevolutionNow group, the protesters manoeuvred their way to stage a peaceful protest at Berger Roundabout in Abuja.
Some of the protesters, who were earlier arrested at Unity Fountain, were said to have been arraigned at a mobile court sitting at Eagles Square for flouting Covid-19 guidelines.
Another set of protesters were also arrested at the Berger roundabouts after the protest.
Although the leader of the group, Omoyele Sowore, was not physically present at the venue of the protest but a member who is a lawyer , Pelumi Jemigbesi, who addressed journalists made some demands on behalf of the group.
According to Jemigbesi, the group demanded scrapping of the 1999 Constitution to pave way for Nigerians to decide a new constitution through a referendum.
“The 1999 constitution is a fraudulent document,” Jemigbesi said. “Scrap it and let the people make their own constitution.”
Among other demands, he also called for the abolition of tuition fees in universities and secondary schools.
“Stop the killings in the country and sack all the incompetent service chiefs,” Jemigbesi said.
“Stop all estimated billing by the power companies, provide pre-paid meters for free, and communities must have the right to audit the electricity bills they get, and review the licenses of all discos.
“Free all political prisoners now, including El Zakzaky and his wife as well as employment for the youths.”
Security forces fired teargas at ‘Revolution Now’ protesters in Lagos on Wednesday morning.
After one year, the Convener of RevolutionNow in Osun State, Olawale Bakare, has been rearrested by operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS in Osogbo.
Olawale, on Wednesday with members of the Revolution Now converged at the popular Olaiya junction in Osogbo to stage a protest against bad governance, lack of infrastructure, extra judicial activities, among others.
The protesters had addressed the police officers at the scene on their mission.
