The Nigerian Police Force Monday said the #RevolutionNow protesters were dispersed in Lagos because they didn’t get permission from the police before staging the protest. “The gathering is unlawful, an unlawful gathering is meant to be dispersed,” the Area Commander, Area C, ACP Tijani Fatai said on Monday. “There is not going to be any protest nobody contacted the police whether peaceful or not they were not permitted to protest.” Tijani insisted that the police had been mandated to stop the protest from holding and that was why armed security operatives barricade the National Stadium where protesters were gathering.
Protesters converged on the National Stadium Surulere, Lagos to demand the release of Sahara Reporter’s publisher Omoyele Sowore’s but they were forcefully dispersed by soldiers and policemen. Sowore’s arrest came after he called for a massive protest against the Nigerian government. Sowore was arrested in the early hours of Saturday for allegedly inciting regime change. The Department of State Services (DSS) while confirming Sowore’s arrest said his call for a nationwide protest against the government threatened public safety, peaceful co-existence, and social harmony.
“These threats include threats of sabotage, threats of subversion, threat of terrorism and, of course, ethnic agitations, separatist agitations, economic sabotage and others. If we are operating as a responsible security organisation and someone is calling for revolution in Nigeria, we must understand the meaning of revolution,” DSS spokesman Peter Afunanya said on Sunday.
The convener of the protest and publisher of Sahara Reporters, who the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress in Nigeria’s last general elections, said he was aware of security agencies monitoring him hours before he was eventually arrested. Sowore’s arrest triggered widespread condemnation, with Nigerians calling for his immediate release hence the nationwide protests.
In Osogbo, Osun State, armed police and DSS operatives stopped members of the #RevolutionNow group from protesting. The protesters, led by Olawale Adebayo, had arrived the popular Olaiya Junction to address newsmen on the reason for the protest, but were halted by the DSS and police personnel who arrived the scene.
The operatives asked the protesters to disperse but were rebuffed by a group of youths decked in orange berets and handkerchiefs, who stood their ground and sang protest songs. At this point, the security team fired tear gas at the crowd which eventually dispersed them.
In Rivers, Gov. Nyesom Wike said the organisers of #RevolutionNow are not allowed to hold any anti-government protest in the state. “Rivers State does not subscribe to what the RevolutionNow protest represents and Rivers State is not part of the protest,” Wike said in a statement, adding: “Security agencies in the state should arrest anybody involved in the RevolutionNow protest and also take all necessary steps to prosecute such persons.”
But the organisers of the protest insisted it will hold as scheduled. A spokesman for the organisers Kunle Wizeman Ajayi said the arrest of Sowore was not surprising. Ajayi accused the Nigerian government of bribing social media influencers to discredit the purposes of the protest. “A failed government cannot use force to make the mass of people to accept its failure,” he said. Sahara Reporters said that Wike and the ruling APC planned to hijack the protest, explaining that Wike’s directive to security agents in the state to “arrest anybody involved in the #RevolutionNow protest” is a ploy to disrupt the protest
Nigeria’s Presidency Sunday asked organisers and sponsors of the proposed nationwide ‘RevolutionNow’ protest to reveal their identity and not hide under veiled social media posts.
“We call on the sponsors and organisers to have the decency to come forward and make their identity known – out of respect to all Nigerians – so that Nigerians can be fully aware in whose name this “revolution” is being proposed and who the beneficiaries may be,” presidential spokesman Gerba Shehu said in a statement.
The ‘RevolutionNow’ Saturday became a subject of discussion in Nigeria when operatives of the Department of Security Services (DSS) arrested Sahara Reporters publisher Omoyele Sowore at his Lagos residence.
Sowore, presidential candidate of African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2019 general election spearheaded the #RevolutionNow movement, with a plan to hold protests in most Nigerian states on Monday, August 5.
Nigeria’s police inspector general Mohammed Adamu Saturday warned citizens to stay clear of the protest in their own interest.
He accused the organisers of the protest of plotting to force a regime change in the country.
Adamu declared that anyone participating in the protest will be treated as terrorists and enemies of the country, a sentiment shared by the Presidency.
Shehu asserted that Nigerians elected President Muhammadu Buhari into office, thus, the action by the protest organisers was aimed at inciting a revolution in government.
He stated that the government respects and uphold the right of every Nigerian to peaceful protest and civil campaign to raise awareness on issues and even oppose the government.
“There is, however, a difference between peaceful call to protest and incitement for a revolution,” Shehu said. The ballot box is the only constitutional means of changing government and a president in Nigeria. The days of coups and revolutions are over.”
#RevolutionNow: Timi Frank Challenges DSS to Name Sponsors
August 5, 2019 1:04 pm1
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Timi Frank
By Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, has challenged the Department of State Services (DSS) to make public the names of the Nigerians abroad and the foreign collaborators allegedly sponsoring the #RevolutionNow protest.
Reacting through a statement made available to journalists on Monday in Abuja, Frank challenged the DSS to make its findings public or stop discrediting Nigerians, following its claims that some people abroad were behind the protest.
He described as a ‘lazy’ thinking for anybody to think that the Sowore-led group was planning to overthrow the current government.
Frank warned the operatives who he said are currently intimidating and arresting their fellow Nigerians to learn from the case of former National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki, who had power to arrest anybody then but now under perpetual detention.
He stated: “I challenge the DSS to bring out proof that some people abroad are sponsoring Omoyele Sowore’s #RevolutionNow protest. The current development has simply shown that the APC government is not used to democratic system of governance hence the fear it continues to create in the mind of Nigerians.”
“The DSS authorities should stay off politics and stop blackmailing innocent Nigerians for demanding for their rights.”
“If there is anybody breaking the laws of the federation by their actions it is the present administration and its officials who have no respect for the rule of law nor obey simple court orders.
“Where is the DSS’s intelligence that shows that some people are sponsoring the group? If the DSS is so sure of its assertions and not playing the script of the APC’s administration, the secret police should make public the names of the alleged sponsors.
“Nigerians and the whole world now know clearly that the current panic stricken administration is not tolerant and it has just scored own goal by arresting a leader of a civil group demanding good governance without violence or any dangerous weapon.”
“The current insecurity, hunger, parlous economy, unmitigated unemployment and disregard for the rule of law under this government has worsen to the extent that Nigerians would not need anybody to pay them before they come out on the streets to protest against bad governance being perpetuated by the APC.
“What happened in 2014 was not up to this level before Nigerians came out enmass under former President Goodluck Jonathan and the then administration didn’t accuse or arrest anybody. The General Muhammadu Buhari-led APC should learn to be tolerant,” Frank added.
