The organisers of today’s nationwide protest, Take-It-Back movement yesterday differed with the police over the propriety of the action against the Cybercrime Act and suspension of the democratic structure in Rivers State, following the imposition of emergency rule on the state by the Federal Government.

While the organisers of the protest, tagged ‘’Nationwide protest against bad governance and free speech suppression,’’ insisted that the protest was necessary to compel the federal government to stop using the Act to bully citizens, the police said the action was ill-timed and would, therefore, ensure it did not hold.

According to flyers printed for the protest, the organisers urged protesters in Lagos to converge on Ikeja under the bridge, while those in Oyo State are to converge on Iwo road in Ibadan, while the protest would take off at Isaac Boro park in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Why we’re leading protest — TIB
In a statement, the National Coordinator of TIB, Juwon Sanyaolu, said the protest will address issues surrounding the misuse of the Cybercrime Act and the ongoing “state of emergency” in Rivers State.

Sanyaolu explained that the core demands of the protest include the repeal of the Cybercrime Act and the end of emergency rule in Rivers State, which the organisers describe as a form of military dictatorship under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

I’m in support of protest —Sowore
Similarly, the presidential candidate of African Action Congress, AAC, Mr Omoyele Sowore, yesterday, affirmed that the nationwide protest would hold today as scheduled.

Sowore, in a chat with Vanguard, said the protest became necessary because of the issues negatively impacting citizens in different regions and states of the country.

He said: “The protest is nationwide and it will hold today. One of the demands of the protesters is basically a repeal of the Cybercrime Act.

“The protest date has been announced, the police have confirmed it. Some of them received letters from the organisers to protect them.

“You know, a lot of people want to fight based on other issues that are happening in the country.
“People are going to tailor their demands based on where they are. There are people in Rivas who want to fight over the state of emergency.

“There are people in Kogi who want to fight over what they are doing to Natasha. There are people who want to fight over hunger and starvation.

“Anybody who wants to participate is free to fight, based on what is paramount to their existence. It is not limited to any particular issue but the basic position is repeal of the Cybercrime Act.”

On the ultimatum on the demands, Sowore said: “The ultimatum is tomorrow (today). If they repeal it (Cybercrime Act) tonight, then we will review it. But, you know, it is not possible. But they had ample time to change their position.”

We’re not part of protest — Vanguard Liberation
In a chat with Vanguard, the founder of Vanguard Liberation, Agedo Kehinde explained that his team would not be among those protesting on April 7 but would monitor the protest.

His words: “I am not among the protesters for today. They are protesting about the cyberbullying that Prince Olumuyiwa Adejobi is using to harass people. You can’t express your views about the government freely. My organisation is not involved. I want to study the situation.

“To me, it’s just about people expressing themselves. In a democracy, you don’t need to use decrees on people. How the IGP and PRO have been using bullying to stop people is a concern.

“The police can’t stop them. Law and order have not broken down. I don’t think any police formation has come out to say they should not protest.”

FG must uphold human rights ahead of planned protests — Amnesty Int’l
On the protest, Amnesty International’s Nigeria Director, Isa Sanusi, said: “The Nigerian authorities must ensure that security agencies respect and facilitate the right to peaceful protest, as guaranteed by both the country’s own constitution and human rights treaties, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Nigeria is a state party. ‘’Government officials must also refrain from issuing rhetoric aimed at demonising protesters and stifling peaceful dissent.

The planned protest should be an opportunity for authorities to listen to the voices of the people and uphold freedom for all.

“Authorities must not use the proposed nationwide protests as a ploy to crack down on human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. People must be allowed to freely exercise their right to peaceful protest.

‘’Any act capable of undermining freedom of assembly is illegal and portrays unacceptable intolerance of peaceful dissent.”

“Authorities must show a commitment to upholding the country’s constitutional and international human rights obligations by allowing people to freely exercise their human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.”

We support any peaceful protest —NLC
On the protest, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, said it was in support of any peaceful action to deepen the nation’s democracy, saying it was the right of Nigerians to protest peacefully, including the planned protest against cyberbullying of Nigerians online.

A officer of NLC who spoke to Vanguard on condition of anonymity, said: “Any group that organises peaceful protest to deepen the nation’s democracy and the rights of citizens will always have our backing.

‘’Peaceful protest is a right of every Nigerian in a democracy. On the cyberbullying, the law was hurriedly passed by the National Assembly to silent Nigerians and clampdown on the freedom of speech that is guaranteed by the constitution.

“We expect the police to protest the protesters and ensure that sponsored hoodlums do not infiltrate or attack the protesters. That is the duty of the Police, as against their attempts to scuttle the planned protest.

‘’Again, the police should not hire thugs to disrupt or cause violence, or even mayhem in a peaceful protest.

“On the Rivers issue, we have made our position known, that the emergency rule in Rivers State is unconstitutional and that constitutional order must be returned. That is our position and we will continue to canvass for it at every given opportunity.”

We support protest against cyberbullying, unconstitutional in Rivers—JAF
Similarly, the umbrella body for Pro-people civil society organisations, the Joint Action Front, JAF, said Nigerians must not be tired of protesting against injustices and anti-people’s policies.

Speaking to Vanguard, the Secretary of JAF, Abiodun Aremu, said: “We cannot ever be tired of resistance against tyrannical rule of neo-liberal regimes, imposition of injustices and anti-people policies against the class interest of the working people and Nigerians. This explains JAF’s irrevocable stand on the goal of system change.

“As JAF, we identify with the call for the protest and we will encourage our affiliates, allies and members to be involved in such protest and every legitimate action to move our society forward.
For JAF, we support the TIB as a an ally and we have a working relationship with them.’’

Crimininalising peaceful protest, a threat to democracy—MSA
Similarly, an affiliate of JAF, the Movement for Socialist Alternative, MSA, through its General Secretary, Daggar Tolar, said: “Protest is a democratic right that even the worst of military regimes that this country had witnessed could not take away from the working masses and, indeed, from citizens.

‘’It is, therefore, delusional to even entertain the thought that the Tinubu regime that takes its license of existence from a constitution can set about criminalising the right to protest. Democracy takes its oxygen naturally from the existence of a multiplicity of voices.

“The right to agree as well as disagree and legitimately to be able to canvass one’s view for or against as individuals or as groups is also an ingredient of democracy.

‘’For a country, where the ruling class continues with its ruinous anti-people, capitalist policies condemning more and more of us into excruciating poverty, the least that is expected of us is to rise and say No.

“To criminalise protest is to want to send the Fourth Republic into the ‘dust of bin of history’’’
“We completely welcome and endorse the right of citizens to protest on an issue of concern and call on the police to cease the intimidation and perform its duty to provide the necessary environment for citizens to exercise their democratic right to assembly, expression without any intimidation from group/s of individuals or from any organ or agent of the state.”


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