Day 3 of nationwide protest: Momentum and breakthrough achieved
By Dailytab24.
Background
The third day of the nationwide protest had intriguing moments and there appears to be a slight victory achieved.
President Bola Amed Tinubu has finally agreed to address the country, his address coming today after being urged to do that stakeholders.
The president assessed that delay could play into the hands of the people that want his government to be destabilized.
The protest which began on August 1 is scheduled to last for ten days, and there is pessimism among the protestors that ten days could be too much, due to lack of daily bread.
But despite the situation, protestors have shown extraordinary determination for these three days.
“The protest is not well financed like End SARS protest, where throughout the duration we had food on the streets, drinks and entertainment. Those in Rivers tried to replicate the End SARS approach, but I think they lack funding to go about it. We now hear from people complinaing that ten days will be too much for them as they need to eat and feed their families, so, nobody can tell what will happen in the coming days” our correspondent said.
The protestors are holding on against all odds. The situation is not favorable for anyone, with the states deeply involved in the protest finding life a bit harder.
Lagos and Abuja are the epicenter of the protest, but Kano and other northern states have upped their games. The affected states are struggling to keep free flow of economic activities.
In the Southeast, even though there is no protest in any of the states of Southeast, economic activities are largely affected.
Markets continue to open but customers are barely seen. Customers that come to buy are the few within the states of the Southeast which has not helped the economic activities. Business owners freely go to their shops and wait for customers that made it the market.
“The market is not sweet or free flowing” a trader said to Dailytab24 correspondent when contacted. “Market is a shadow of itself now. You know, those that come to the market are those that live within, and we are too many in the market, we need other states to have a stable business day. Benin people we often rely on are not coming, because there is protest in their side. Delta the same, they are protesting and nobody will like to take a risk” he said.
“Today (Yesterday) the only thing I sold was pieces of four cloths, I had to sell at the rate of my cost price because if you miss that customer, you might never get another one until Tuesday. The 20,000 Naira I sold the four cloths saved my day, if not, I would have come back home empty handed and waste my 800 Naira transport to the market” he concluded.
Meanwhile, the protestors in other regions are beginning to blame Igbo tribe and labeling them betrayals for refusing to protest.
“They are saying that the Igbo tribe is only a dot in a circle and cannot change anything. They try to reference what has been said about the Igbo tribe during their active protest for a separate country. They now say that the Igbo tribe is insignificant to the ongoing protest” our correspondent commented.
Day 2 Outcome
In Kano, more than 13 people were killed and many injured. The protestors had swarmed the security agents who initially succumbed, but turned violent against the protestors after they tried to run away when attacked with the police amoured vehicle.
The situation nearly caused a stampede. The protestors were teargassed and shot at with live ammunitions.
In Abuja, the police shot at journalists and protestors, with the police overheard saying it was time to violently dispel the protestors.
The blatant disregard to basic human rights have been well documented across the country.
A tennager was killed in Abuja, while police has denied the act, despite a footage that showed them attacking the peaceful protestors.
In Kaduna, the police stayed calmed and allowed the military to attacked the protestors.
The military despite its leaders speaking cordially, decided to act. The military arrested dozens of protestors and handed them over to the police in what many condemned and tagged unlawful.
Human rights lawyers are on the move to ensure the release of arrested protestors. The army also involved in brutalization of the protestors.
In Yobe, a few protestors were arrested by the Nigerian police.
In Kastina, the governor ordered the police to arrest and detain the protestors.
Gombe also had thousands of protestors on the streets. Unlike the previous days, there were no reports of looting across the northern states.
Reactions
Atiku Abubakar, PDP party leader and former vice president of the country reacted angrily to the killings and brutalization of the protestors.
The opposition leader urged President Bola Amed Tinubu to stop killing protestors as it’s their right to protest.
NLC also called on the government to desist from killing, detaining and harassing protestors as it could lead to violence in the country.
The protestors have also called on the government to stop harassing them as they are peaceful and orderly.
Protestors Make Gain
The protestors have been disregarded by the president since the inception, but on the third day of the protest was able to attract the attention of the president who said he would address them tomorrow (today).
The president was urged to address the protestors as the late address by president Ruto of Kenya was deemed too late.
“The president was urged to address the protestors by the stakeholders of the country. we heard from people that the president had refused to address them because he took the protestors for granted. the protestors were saying they would continue to protests until they are taken serious and something done about their demands. We don’t know yet if the speech will have significant effect on the protest or lead to the protestors withdrawing from the streets” our correspondent said.
Conclusion
The protestors have vowed to continue, with Sowore of Saharareporters urging the protestors to come out and continue the street protest today.
Some protestors in Jos have vowed to conduct their church service on the protest ground, while others have vowed to come out.
In other quarters the protestors are being pleaded to wait and listen to the president’s address to see if he has anything tangible for them.
but overly, there is a belief that the address of the president will not carry any substance.
The speech of the president will go a long way to determine how the protest will be shaped in the coming hours and days.
