Activists under the auspices of the Coalition for Revolution (CORE), Take It Back (TIB) and several others have declared September 18 and October 1, 2019 as days of peaceful protests to demand for the release of Omoyele Sowore and others being detained by security agents.
Sowore, the National Chairman of African Action Congress (AAC) and Convener of the RevolutionNow nationwide protests, it would be recalled, was arrested on August 3 two days to the event, and had since been detained by the Department of State Service, which obtained a court order to hold him for 45 days.
Mr. Olaseni Ajai, CORE’s Co-convener, who addressed the media in Lagos on Wednesday, said the groups had commenced the mobilisation of Nigerians to ensure the success of the coming nationwide peaceful mass protests, which he said was to press for the release of the detained activists and a better life for the citizens.
He also disclosed that apart from Nigeria, the protests would also hold in the country’s embassies in four other world cities, which he listed as Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Rome in Italy, Madrid in Spain and Berlin in Germany.
Ajai said: “The CORE, Take It Back Movement and several other groups are embarking on massive global protests on these days. We are in league with other movements. The Take It Back components have links in all the other groups in the countries mentioned to ensure the success of the peaceful protests.”
According o him, after consultations, the groups said that the struggle against the sliding of the Nigerian society into a banana republic was an historic task which he said would be done under a united agenda and programmes.
He said that during the protests, the activists would be mobilising citizens to demand for the release of Sowore, Agba Jalingo, arrested on August 9, and Abayomi Olawale, who was arrested on August 5, and had been in solitary confinement.
Ajai lamented the continued erosion of the citizens’ human rights under the current federal administration under President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC), framing up of activists who speak the truth on the need to prevent the nation from sliding into chaos and anarchy.
He reiterated the groups’ other demands from the Federal Government, which he listed as “the economy that works for all; end of systematic corruption and system change; democratic end to insurgency and release of all political prisoners, actualization of N30,000 minimum wage as a starter towards a living wage for all, and free qualitative education at all levels and independent students unionism in tertiary institutions.”
Ajai maintained that the activists would continue with the ongoing nationwide protests until the Federal Government was ready to ensure better living condition for the citizens and the authorities started to respect the fundamental human rights of everyone.
He added that no amount of official repression that would cow the activists, stressing that such would rather continue to show the true colour of President Buhari and the APC administration, which he insisted had been dictatorial.
He maintained that by the government’s action of detaining Sowore and the others through trumped up allegations of treasonable felony, the APC administration succeeded in exhuming the dead Decree 2 of the military administration under Buhari as Military Head of State.
