October 1: Police fire teargas as protests rock Lagos and Abuja over economic hardship (Video)

Many Nigerians have gathered in the country’s economic and political capitals, Lagos and Abuja, to protest against rising living and energy costs in Africa’s most populous nation.

This demonstration coincides with the 64th anniversary of Nigeria’s independence.

Many citizens feel that this is not a moment for celebration, urging President Bola Tinubu’s administration to tackle the soaring inflation and unprecedented economic hardship facing the nation.

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In Abuja, the protesters gathered at the Utako area waving the Nigerian Green-White-Green flag and banners with various inscriptions such as “EndBadGovernance”, “DiasporaVoting”, “EndHighLivingCosts”, amongst others.

In Lagos, around the state capital in Ikeja, the situation was the same as youths besieged the popular Ikeja UnderBridge area, with vehicular movement at a standstill on a day already declared a public holiday by the government for the celebration of Nigeria’s independence.

Omoyele Sowore, presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 election, led the protest in the nation’s commercial capital.

Speaking interview with newsmen at the protest ground in Ikeja under-bridge, Lagos, on Tuesday, Sowore said decried the continued detention of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, and others.

He also demanded the release of the protesters who were arrested during the #Endbadgovernance campaign.

End bad government protest going on in Ikeja under bridge pic.twitter.com/6HXiTEcYV5

— Oyindamola (@dammiedammie35) October 1, 2024

“We are working together for the release. Part of the reason why we are protesting is to ensure everybody that is in detention illegally, who are being charged with false criminal offenses, including treason which carries a death penalty must be released immediately and thus extend to Nnamdi Kalu who we believed is thus persecuted by the Nigerian state because he has expressed the desire of his people to secede from Nigeria.”

“They have the right to either stay or leave Nigeria. Our preference is that we will not completely prevent anybody from either staying or being in Nigeria.”

He bemoaned over the state of the country, describing the country’s independence as a clog in the wheel of progress, harping on the need for a revolution to deliver the country from he called ‘internal colonialism’.

“We have called on Nigerians to exercise real independence because the Independence that was granted to Nigerians in 1960 has become a burden to the Nigeria citizens and part of the problem in 1960 is that we got flag independence, we did not get real independence, so we are transferred to white colonialists to internal colonialism.”

“We have asked Nigerians to commence the series of actions to get real independence and that starts today. We are very clear that this country needs a revolution. Nothing but revolution can liberate Nigerians from the shackles of people,” he said.

Another protestor, Adeola Ilori, expressed anguish over the state of the country, saying the country’s independence is void of celebration

“I don’t have anything to celebrate. If I am celebrating I won’t be here. I am here to identify with my people to let them know that we can change things,” he said.

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Meanwhile, in Abuja, security operatives have sealed off Eagle Square, a revered national venue, and dispersed a protest by the #FearlessInOctober demonstrators, escalating tensions between protesters and the government in the nation’s capital.

The crackdown, involving police and military personnel, blocked access to the square, a strategic location near the National Assembly and Presidential Villa that symbolizes Nigeria’s seat of power.

Earlier, there were reports that police fired teargas at protesters who converged at the Utako area in Abuja

The October 1, 2024 protest, tagged “FearlessInOctober”, was propagated on social media, some two months after the August #EndBadGovernance protests. The two demonstrations are synonymous in themes as aggrieved young people demand a reversal of petrol subsidy removal and electricity tariff increase.

Critics have faulted President Bola Tinubu’s twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and unification of the foreign exchange rates which many Nigerians believed were responsible for the unimaginable inflation and soaring living and energy costs in the country.

Energy costs have more than tripled since Tinubu took up the reins of government on May 29, 2023. Petrol prices per litre jumped up from around N200 to over N1,000 whilst electricity tariff quadrupled, impacting the manufacturing sector and the pocket of Nigerian households.

During the nation’s 64th Independence Day Anniversary Broadcast on Tuesday, Tinubu pleaded for more patience and time, saying his administration is retooling its economic policies for the good of common Nigerians.

The former Lagos governor sympathised with Nigerians over the economic hardship his reforms might have caused whilst he assured them that his administration had been busy implementing measures to bring down the skyrocketing cost of living.

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