#EndBadGovernance: Abuja protesters speak on what could take them off the streets

Some protesters at the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja have called on President Bola Tinubu to address them.

Some of them told PREMIUM TIMES they could leave the streets if the president addressed them.

Tunde Shuaib, a protester wearing the branded cap of the Take It Back Movement, one of the groups leading the protest, said the protesters “are not animals.”

Tunde Shuaib, one of the Abuja protesters

He said he would leave the street if the president could come out and address the demonstrators.

However, some of them said only a decisive decision, such as reducing fuel prices and addressing insecurity, could remove them from the streets.

“Everything is going to be normal if the government brings back the (petrol) subsidy,” a female protester clad in hijab said.

The return of petrol subsidies is one of the major demands of the protesters. President Tinubu announced the removal of subsidies on petrol last year, triggering Nigeria’s worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation.

Suwaiba Abdullahi, a nursing mother carrying her two-month-old baby, said she joined the rally to protest against insecurity and hardship.

Suwaiba Abdullahi brought her toddler to the protest

Ms Abdullahi, who has been part of the protests since Thursday, explained that bandits, in March, killed her husband on his farm in Katsina State.

The #EndBadGovernance protests, which aim to raise concerns about hardship exacerbated by unfavourable government policies, began Thursday in various parts of the country.

The protest turned violent in some northern states including Kano, Jigawa and Niger, forcing the government to impose curfews. At least five people have been killed in these states and several properties damaged.

In Abuja, on Thursday, the atmosphere of the peaceful protest changed as pro-government protesters arrived at the venue of the protest in 11 coaster buses.

They would later mix with the anti-government protesters while the latter group marched towards Eagle Square.

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However, the protesters were prevented from marching into the Three Arms Zone, the seat of the Nigerian government. The police fired tear gas at the protesters and some of them hurled the tear gas canisters back at the police.

The protesters later dispersed on Thursday but reconvened on Friday morning at the MKO Abiola Stadium.