BY LEVI JOHNSON
#RevolutionNow Group has on Thursday taking a protest which seeks the resignation of President Muhammadu Buhari as president of Nigeria to the United States Embassy in Abuja
Among other demands, they want Buhari to address the security challenge and the socio-economic palaver in the nation.
The campaigners led by the convener of the movement, Omoyele Sowore, wielded a big banner with the inscription, ‘Buhari has failed,’ ‘Resign Now’, and other placards which read, ‘Failed leadership has made Nigeria the capital of the world,’ and ‘#RevolutionNow’.
The protest, according to Sowore, is to demand a reversal of: “anti-people policies implemented by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.
“These harsh policies that have burnt a burdensome hole into the pockets of the Nigerian people are coming at a time when citizens are recovering from the adverse effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, a global health crisis that was also mismanaged by the Buhari’s government further plunging already struggling citizens into deeper financial problems.
“It also comes at a time when there is an unprecedented dictatorial-style crackdown on free speech, dissent, activism, journalism and the right to associate and congregate peacefully and protest.
Amongst its demands, CORE clamoured for reversal of the hike in the price of petrol from N148 to N151, an end to: “state-supervised and approved impunity under the watch of President Muhammadu Buhari” and the sacking of all service chiefs in the country due to their: “proven incompetence in finding a lasting solution to the Boko Haram insurgency which has claimed and is still claiming the life of Nigerians daily”
The protesters, who also included #BringBackOurGirls activist, Aisha Yesufu, Ariyo Dare-Atoye, Henry Shield, Adebayo Raphael, Deji Adeyanju of Concerned Nigerians, among others, criticised what they described as oppression in the country.
Yesufu in her remarks said Nigerians must make the nation work, stating that things were becoming unbearable.
Raphael said Nigerians have passed a vote of no confidence in the country’s political leadership, adding that “under Buhari, our economy is in shambles; under him, hardship has been redefined.”
Adeyanju said Nigerians were dissatisfied with the security and economic conditions in the country, stressing that “Nigeria is not working.”
He observed that soldiers, policemen, and other security agents have taken over the Unity Fountain, Maitama, where a rally was supposed to hold.
The activist appealed to the US to place a visa ban on the Director-General of the Department of State Services for clamping down on protesters in Osogbo.
The campaigners also sang solidarity songs and berated the government for failing to address the insecurity in the country.
