Omoyele Sowore, the publisher of SaharaReporters and 2023 African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, has said that the #EndBadGovernance protest has awoken the tiger in Nigerians and another revolt is set for October 1. Sowore told TV and print journalists this in separate interviews on Saturday.....CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE
“This is Day 10 of a series of revolt that will hit Nigeria if these demands are not met within a period of time. This protest will resume from the beginning of October,” Sowore told News Central TV on Saturday.
“We want to fight for real independence on that day. This is the only language they (Nigerian leaders) understand. It is not about writing or sending love letters to them.”
On Sunday, Sowore told PUNCH that “[the protest] had woken up the tiger in Nigerians”.
“For the first time in a long time, the instruments of division failed the narrative of the ruling class. This got the oppressed united behind a common goal across Nigeria,” he said.
“They said all sorts of things before the protest started with the aim of demobilising Nigerians, but when the protest commenced, they still had excuses. The revolt is centrally coordinated by the central nervous system known as hunger and poverty plus insecurity, corruption, and unemployment.
“In the president’s address, we need to ask: did he announce a single action that would reverse the people’s suffering? No.
“We called for a non-violent protest and encouraged all participants to shun violence. However, the government’s high-handedness kicked off the violence. It was the security agencies that started using water canons, tear gas, and live bullets on unarmed and peaceful protesters.”
FIJ saw the policejournalists away from a protest venue in Lagos, the militaryandof violence from the police against civilians.
Security operativesagainst protesters in Abuja and the policeas hoodlums harrased journalists in Lagos.
Sowore told News Central on Saturday that the next protest would not stop until the demands of hungry Nigerians are met.
He also said that the protest was not meant to stop, but it was the decision of the organisers to begin with a 10-day demonstration.
“The main thing would hit after that,” Sowore claimed.
Nigeria saw a nationwide protest against economic hardship and bad governance in the first 10 days of August.
Protesters converged on specific locations in Lagos, Oyo, Bauchi, Rivers, Plateau, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Edo states and Abuja to express their demands to the Federal Government.
Sowore acted as one of the leaders of the nationwide protests that followed months of higher electricity tariffs, costly petrol and food inflation.
He insisted on Saturday that he played a supporting role through his Take It Back movement, rather than a sponsorship role.
He also rvealed that the government froze the movement’s bank account without admitting it was about the protest.
“The protest is sponsored by hunger, inflation and insecurity,” he said.
President Bola TinubuNigerians on August 4 because of the protest. However, civil service organisations, non-governmental organisations and protestersthat the president’s speech failed to address Nigerians’ demands.
