Nigerians based in Lagos State have stormed the Ikeja Underbridge area of the state on Wednesday as part of effort to make their agrievances known to President Bola Tinubu over the dire economic crisis facing residents of the nation to commemorate this year’s Democracy Day.
Recall that former president, Muhammadu Buhari, on June 7, 2018, ordered that Nigeria’s Democracy Day will, henceforth, be held on June 12 every year. Until his direction, Democracy Day was marked every May 29.
The protest led by civil society organisations including Take It Back Movement (TIBM), the Education Rights Campaign, the Coalition for Revolution and the Socialist Workers League led to traffic congestion within the axis security presence with presence of security personnel to forestall any attack or vandalism.
The protesters who halted the agitation at Opebi junction carried various placards with inscriptions including “President Tinubu, let the poor breathe”, “Payment of living wage to all Nigerian workers now, “End Insecurity, nationalise the power sector,” and many more.
Ayoyinka Oni, representative of the TIBM and chairman of the Lagos chapter of the African Action Congress, expressed worry saying, “Nigerians could no longer tolerate the hardship forced on them by the Federal Government led by President Bola Tinubu.
“Enough is enough! The cabals ruling Nigeria are thronging us into worsening economic hardship every now and then. They claimed they wanted to let the poor breathe but they are suffocating them.”
He added Fuel subsidy removal has not helped the economy.
One of the protesters, Ajayi Olalekan, who spoke with our correspondent called for resuscitation of the economy
“Tinubu and the present administration need to resuscitate the economy. It has not being friendly in the last one year. Nigerians are battling insecurity, inflation, price surge,” he said.
