Lagos protesters vow to storm the streets despite court order

Protesters at the Ojota area of Lagos are bracing up to take to the streets in a new move to further demand an end to their poor living conditions.

This is as the protest hits the third day.

But this will mean that the demonstrators will be defying a Lagos high court order which restricted the protest to the Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park, Ojota, and Peace Park, Ketu between 8am to 6pm.

The court order was targeted at ensuring that the protest does not degenerate into chaos, causing destruction in a state that was most hit by the 2020 #EndSARS protest.

“We won’t allow a repeat of the 2020 #EndSARS protest,” Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos State, had said in a televised speech recently.

Amid rising inflation and food prices, thousands of protesters are, against all pleas and threats, taking to the streets in Africa’s most populous nation, highlighting their pains so the government could take action.

The campaigners began their rally on Thursday, August 1 and are expected to remain in the next 10 days, with many calling on President Bola Tinubu to address the nation and give the protesters some assurances as a succour to their woes.

But the president has remained silent even as the daily protests across the nation are estimated to cost the country a N400 billion loss daily.

This is huge for a nation that is strained economically and hoping to attract investors to kickstart the frailing economy.

“We are willing to march around, we’re tired of staying in one place,” said Toyin Alebiosu, who had been participating in the rally since Thursday.

Many of the protesters are urging the government to address the basic needs of the citizens such as food, clean water, health care and education.

“The protesters are not worried about anything other than for the government to cater for their basic welfare. This is not too much to demand from them,” said Chidi James, an activist and one of the leading campaigners.

BusinessDay gathered that the police and the protesters had a slight clash today as the security forces cracked down on those intending to leave the Ojota premises, thereby defying the court injunction.

However, the protesters vowed that they would take the protest beyond Ojota going forward.

Ibrahim Duro’orike, a human rights activist at the protest ground, said the protesters are aiming to leave the Ojota premises because the government “has been silent since the protest commenced.”

“The situation, however, is that the people feel the protest needs to be extended to the nooks and crannies of Lagos so that the government can address and speak to the people.

“The continuous silence from the government is a disrespect to the multitude of people who left their homes to protest the hardship that has befallen all and sundry as a result of the anti-poor policies that have been implemented by the Tinubu regime,” Duro’orike told our correspondent.