As Nigerians go into the second day of #Endbadgovernance protest, normalcy has started returning to different parts of Lagos State, as traders and commercial vehicle operators went about their business peacefully.
At the Ojota bus stop market, traders were seen trading while commercial buses and tricycles lined up waiting for passengers.
The protesters, however, converged on the service lane opposite Gani Fawehinmi park at Ojota, just as they resisted all appeals made to them by the Deputy Commissioner of Police for Lagos State, Tijani Fatai, who was on ground, appealing to them to go off the road and go inside the park.
The protesters, who were lesser than those present at the protest venue yesterday, insisted that they wouldn’t go inside the park because they were sceptical about the appeal made to them by the police. They think the police may have an ulterior motive.
Also present at the protest ground, were legal practitioners who volunteered to render free legal services for protesters denied of their right or arrested.
Speaking with Top Society, one of the lawyers, Emmanuel Ajide, said they came to render free services to any protester arrested or denied their right, adding that some group of lawyers volunteered to render such services and not the Nigeria Bar Association NBA that sent them.
According to him, “We were told some people wanted to hijack the protest, they(protesters) were told to go inside the park, but many of them because of the fear of laying ambush on them, they said they would not go inside the park, now i think they want to match to Alausa to express their grievances there.
“NBA is not in support of the protest, but we have some lawyers, who have taken it as part of their responsibility to run a probono service as regard any protester that is arrested. It is the decision that some lawyers come together, they want to ensure there is peaceful protest, and at the same time, to fight for any protester being arrested or being denied of their rights.”
According to one of the protester, identified as Comrade Juwon, he alleged that, there were plans by the Lagos State government to hijack the protest, by sending hoodlums to attack the protesters so as to discredit it.
He said that was one of the reasons they refused to go inside the park.
He directed the protesters to keep match back and forth on the service lane, while the police formed an army around them, monitoring their activities.
Juwon added that, part of the agreement reached with the Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun was that, police would provide protection to the protesters.
Also participating in the protest, a grandmother and a retiree Mrs Adewunmi Oyewole said that Nigerians are hard-working and peace-loving people and that government policies trigger them to react unruly.
She explained that, inflation and high cost of living have pushed them to the wall and that Nigerians can no longer bear the hardship, and that is what makes them to stage the protest.
Mrs Oyewole said that if the government can’t solve the challenges facing Nigerians, they should be left alone to fend for themselves.
She said the government should give the people an environment that is enabling them to survive and reduce the price of petroleum products.
Some of the placards carried by the protesters read “End all attack on democratic right.” “No to starvation: wage for a new national Union wage pegged to the rise of inflation.”
Banners displayed at the venue of the protest reads, “All Tribes United Lagos For Greater Tomorrow, Protest For Unity Not Disunity.” The other banner reads “All Tribes United Lagos For Greater Tomorrow, Protest is Legal But Violence is Illegal.”
