The ‘RevolutionNow’ protests planned for Monday were disrupted nationwide by the operatives of the Nigerian Army, Department of State Security (DSS) and Nigeria Police Force (NPF) who fired teargas canisters as well as deployed Amoured Personnel Carriers to strategic areas where the protesters planned to gather and mobilise themselves. But in spite of the security presence, the protests still held in some parts of the country.
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In Abuja, amid heavy police presence to stop the proposed protests, residents defied the early morning heavy downpour to protest against “oppression and bad governance” in the country, even as they demanded the release of one of the conveners of the protest march, Omoleye Sowore.
The protesters converged on the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) office chanting anti-government songs and calling for a ‘revolution’ in Nigeria as they registered their displeasure with the state of the nation.
The ‘RevolutionNow’ protests had been made popular by Sowore, who was arrested by the DSS on Saturday, following which also the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar Adamu, described the protest as “treasonable” and warned against it.
In Lagos, Bala Elkana, spokesperson of the state police command, confirmed the arrest of nine persons to BusinessDay as at 4:58pm yesterday.
Earlier on Monday, stern-looking armed policemen and soldiers took positions at the Freedom Park, Ojota, and the National Stadium, Surulere, in Lagos. Exit and entry points to the stadium were locked up as the police stationed Amoured Personnel Carriers belonging to the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) at the main entrance in a show of force and readiness to crush any protesters.
At the Freedom Park, Ojota, which has become synonymous with protests, armed soldiers were seen on guard ostensibly to ward off protesters from the park, where an imposing statue of late lawyer and human rights activist, Gani Fawehinmi, stands tall.
But the protesters have vowed to continue their action on Tuesday (today) in defiance to the security operatives.
Conveners of the protests, comprising members of a coalition of different civil society organisations, who addressed the press after they were dispersed, said the police fired teargas at them as they gathered peacefully in Surulere for the protests.
It was a similar situation in Benin, Edo State, where the coordinator of #RevolutionNow, Osunbor Kelly Omokaro, was arrested by the police.
Omokaro, who is also the founder of Faculty of Peace, a nongovernmental organisation, was arrested and detained when he went to the police headquarters in Benin to seek permission for the protests.
He was said to be at the police command at about 7am when the Commissioner of Police (CP), DanMallam Muhammed, asked the activist to see him in his office. A member of Talakawa parliament, who broke the news to journalists, described it as an infringement of Omokaro’s fundamental rights.
“As at the time I left the command, he was busy writing statement,” the Talakawa parliament member told journalists.
CP Muhammed, however, said he was yet to learn of Omokaro’s arrest, even though he admitted that the activist was made to write a statement.
Similarly, a combined team of police and the DSS operatives stormed the premises of the Bendel Newspapers Company Limited (BNCL), publishers of the Nigerian Observer, at about 7am to prevent civil society members from embarking on the planned protest.
The civil society members had assembled at the media house for the take-off of the protest when the security operatives stormed the venue.
The security agencies also besieged the entrance to the secretariat of the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). They positioned their vehicles, including a Toyota Hilux truck, at the entrance to the Nigerian Observer and adjoining streets like the Vegetable Market Road and Observer Lane.
Speaking on the action of the security agencies, a member of the civil society, who pleaded anonymity, said the police and DSS warned them to call off the protest.
“The security agencies want us to tell them why we want to protest. But we told them that we want to protest the arrest of Omoyele Sowore, the presidential candidate of African Action Congress (AAC) in the February 23, 2019 presidential election,” he said.
In Ibadan, Oyo State, security operatives were stationed at the main entrance of the University of Ibadan.
The combined team comprising operatives of the police, DSS and army, and civil defence “Operation Burst” took position as early as 6:30am in anticipation of the protest said to have been planned to take off from the University Ibadan.
In a commando-style, the security team arrested a young man who was taking the pictures of the security agents. The young man was not spared heavy slaps from the gun-wielding mobile police officers and their SARS counterparts.
However, a supporter of the ‘RevolutionNow’ said the protest had been “technically stopped” for now.
A similar scenario played out in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, where some persons, including the state correspondent of the Nation Newspaper, Nicholas Kalu, were arrested at the Cultural Centre, where the #RevolutionNow protesters had gathered.
Also arrested was the managing editor of an online medium, CrossRiverWatch.
It was gathered that Kalu was arrested for going to the venue to cover the protest.
When contacted, the police public relations officer, Irene Ugbo, said she was not aware of the arrest but added that Kalu would be released if he was ever arrested.
“I don’t know the situation, I am not in the office, but if at all he was arrested, he will be released,” she said.
Efforts by members of the Correspondent Chapel of the NUJ in the state to reach Kalu proved abortive at the time of filing this report.
Read More : How Nigerians dared police to hold #RevolutionNow Protest in Abuja
JOSHUA BASSEY, Lagos, IDRIS UMAR MOMOH, CHURCHILL OKORO, Benin, INNOCENT ODOH, Abuja, REMI FEYISIPO, Ibadan, & MIKE ABANG, Calabar
