AS Nigerians expect government's intervention to ameliorate the biting hardship in the country, civil society organisations, CSOs, yesterday, expressed displeasure over continued detention of #EndBadGovernance protesters, demanding their conditional release.
The demand was contained in an open letter addressed to President Bola Tinubu, dated August 29, 2024, with the subject, "Demanding the Right to Peaceful Protest and Assembly in Nigeria."
It was signed by David Ugolor, Executive Director, Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, on behalf of CSOs representatives; Andrew Mamedu, Country Director, ActionAid Nigeria; Auwal Ibrahim Musa, (Rafsanjani) Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC; Samson Itodo, Executive Director, YIAGA Africa; Abiola Akioyede, Founding Executive Director, Women Advocates Research and Documentation Center, WARDC.
Others are Rev. Fr. John Patrick Ngoyi, Director, Justice, Development and Peace Commission, JDPC; Tijani Bolton, Executive Director, Policy Alert; Monday Osasah, Executive Director, Africa Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development, Centre-LSD; Eze Onyekpere, Lead Director, Centre for Social Justice, CSJ; and Tijani Abdulkareem, Executive Director, Socio Economic Research and Development Centre, SERDEC.
The groups noted that Nigeria was at a critical juncture, pointing out that the policies of the government, including the removal of fuel subsidy and floating of the naira, had led to significant economic hardship for the average Nigerian.
They also lamented that the prices of essential commodities had surged, and that the exchange rate had deteriorated, exacerbating the challenges faced by millions of citizens, including a worrisome dimension of insecurity in many parts of the country.
The letter read: "In response to these hardships, from August 1 to 10, 2024, Nigerians took to the streets to express their frustration and demand better governance. The peaceful protests were a call to action for your administration to address the suffering of the people and take decisive steps to improve governance and economic conditions.
"Although we do not condone the actions of criminals who have been duly tried and found guilty of looting citizens' and government properties, and sabotaging the protest, we are deeply troubled by the government's response to these peaceful demonstrations.
"Reports indicate that several individuals have been detained nationwide, with some facing legal action for exercising their constitutional right to protest. Moreover, the excessive use of force by security agencies, resulting in the tragic deaths of several protesters, is alarming and unacceptable.
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"Even more concerning is the government's characterization of the protests as an attempt at 'regime change' or a 'coup', which has further escalated tensions.
"While we acknowledge the recent steps taken by your administration, such as the signing of the amended National Minimum Wage Act and the distribution of food aid, we believe these measures, though well-intentioned, were not sufficient to address the root causes of the unrest.
