#EndBadGovernance: Nationwide Peaceful Protest Unsettles Tinubu

One year and 56 days after the controversially “elected” President Bola Tinubu assumed the Office of the once-revered country in the West Africa bloc, Nigerians have planned to embark on nationwide peaceful protests to demand a long list of unmet government responsibilities. This move has unsettled the President and his cabinet.

Upon Tinubu’s assumption of office on May 29, 2023, after an election marred with ethnic and religious baiting, thuggery and killings, electoral manipulation, and a compromised judgement of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT), which unfortunately dashed the hope of the ordinary person, the country was plunged into political and economic unrest by policies that made foreign investors and companies leave the country in droves.

Tinubu and his cabinet claimed to have inherited a weakened economy from the inept former President Muhammadu Buhari, who he (Tinubu) championed as the flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC). This indicates that the APC, as the ruling party, Buhari and Tinubu, are inseparable from Nigerians and Nigeria’s poor state of affairs.

Even though there were several instances of public outrage on social media, indicating a need for good governance, the Tinubu-led administration was using taxpayers’ naira to allegedly purchase presidential jets and yachts.

Failing to meet the responsibilities of government to protect and serve, create jobs, alleviate hunger and poverty, and provide security, citizens have planned nationwide peaceful protests to demand those above, including the immediate release of all #EndSARS protesters, locked in prisons across the country since October 20, 2020.

The only way out in Nigeria is to protest because Tinubu doesn’t listen to advice,” Professor Usman Yusuf said in a recent video clip.

While the protest is scheduled to commence on August 1, 2024, the Tinubu-led administration has deployed state security resources to abduct citizens who were only planning to exercise their human rights.

To further show the unspoken desperation, the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to President Tinubu, Bayo Onanuga, attempted to shape history before it happened, as he extensively wrote on X that the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, is to be blamed for “anarchy” if the protest turns violent.

This only shows that if a planned peaceful nationwide protest can unsettle the Tinubu-led cabinet to the point of making such comments, then it is an admission of fear of the power the citizens hold.

The right to peaceful assembly and association is enshrined in Chapter 4, Section 40 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It states, “Every person shall be entitled to assemble freely and associate with other persons, and in particular, he may form or belong to any political party, trade union or any other association for the protection of his interests: Provided that the provisions of this section shall not derogate from the powers conferred by this Constitution on the Independent National Electoral Commission with respect to political parties to which that Commission does not accord recognition.”

In summary, for Nigeria to work, Nigerians must seek it extensively using their fundamental human rights, even if it means taking the country into their hands as those in public offices entrusted with the people’s sovereign power have used it against the interest of the people.

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Mayowa Durosinmi

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M. Durosinmi is a West Africa Weekly investigative reporter covering Politics, Human Rights, Health, and Security in West Africa and the Sahel Region

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