•Femi Falana, SAN
Amid the ongoing nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests, human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, yesterday asked government officials to engage the aggrieved demonstrators.
Angry Nigerians had stormed the states of the federation and the FCT to register their grievances against poverty in the land, high cost of living demanding better economic conditions for the citizens.
Despite court order restraining the protests in some states and the nation’s capital, the protesters came out in the numbers demanding the reversal of some government policies.
Reacting to the protests on Channels Television, Falana said the government must stop mobilising thugs to disrupt rallies.
He said police operatives are empowered to provide adequate security cover for the protesters nationwide.
Falana said, “We must also learn to stop mobilising people to disrupt rallies, we must stop mobilising traditional rulers and some emergency organisations to say, ‘we are pulling out of the protests.’
“The government must now begin to identify those who are genuinely aggrieved and then begin to engage them, ‘what are your complaint?’ So that people will have a sense of belonging.”
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria also called on security agencies to hold talks with the protesters after receiving proper notification of the demonstrations.
The nationwide protests against economic hardship started yesterday, Thursday, August 1, 2024, and is scheduled to stretch till August 10 across all states of the Federation as well as the nation’s capital Abuja.
Prices of food and basic commodities have gone through the roof in the last months, as Nigerians battle one of the country’s worst inflation rates and economic crises sparked by the government’s twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and unification of forex windows.
The police, military and the Department of State Services had warned against Kenya-styled protests. Politicians, who surmised that the planned rallies might end up like the EndSARS demonstrations of October 2020, have continued to appeal to youths to shelve the planned rallies but the young people have been unfazed.
