#EndBadGovernance: Protesters declare 3-day mourning for fallen martyrs

Organisers of the ongoing #EndBadGovernance protest have announced a three-day mourning period to honour the memories of their fallen colleagues who were killed by security agents during the protests.

The mourning period commences today, Wednesday, 7 August and ends on Friday, 9 August with a public symposium and candlelight procession.

In a statement by Hassan Soweto, Ayoyinka Oni and Adegboyega Adeniji, on behalf of the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria Organising Committee, Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park, Ojota, Lagos State, the organisers said the decision to declare a mourning period comes after a series of violent attacks on peaceful protesters by police and thugs allegedly sponsored by the state.

“Arising from a closed-door organisers’ meeting today, Tuesday, 6 August 2024, we have declared three days of mourning in Lagos State to honour our fallen colleagues across the country who were killed by trigger-happy police and security agents during the ongoing #EndBadGovernance protest. The three days of mourning will commence on Wednesday, 7 August, with an X Space and end on Friday, 9 August 2024, with a public symposium and candlelight procession.

“We hereby urge all Nigerian people and youth who support the struggle against hunger and hardship to do everything they can on a personal level to observe these three days of mourning, which may include wearing black attires as they go out, putting up graphics of the movement on their social media profiles, as well as other individual acts to show solidarity with our fallen heroes,” the statement read in part.

The protest organisers encouraged Nigerians to join collective actions, such as the X Space happening on Wednesday, as well as the public symposium and candlelight procession on Friday.

Explaining the rationale for the three-day mourning, they said it was motivated by two things.

“First, the Lagos State government and the Commissioner of Police have made it clear over the course of the past five days that despite assurances to the contrary, they are not in any way prepared to guarantee the right of peaceful protesters to assemble freely without molestation. This explains why, at any slight opportunity, the police at Ojota, as well as at Alausa, have surreptitiously allowed state-sponsored thugs to attack our members and injure them.

“This happened yet again on Monday, 5 August 2024, as the protest closed officially, when a band of thugs armed with various weapons descended on peaceful protesters under the watchful eyes of the police. The same thing happened earlier in the day at Alausa, Ikeja.

“In both incidents, not only did the police not stop the thugs, but police officers also actually participated actively in dispossessing our attacked members of their mobile phones and valuables. This was only the latest in a permanent cycle of low-scale yet scary violent attacks against us once a little chance presents itself,” the statement read.

Given how persistent the attacks have been, the organisers expressed the belief that the police and the thugs were working together to muzzle their voices.

They noted that this has made Ojota unsafe for peaceful protesters hence the decision to re-strategise and consider other forms of engagement to keep the struggle alive until day 10.

They condemned the unprovoked attacks on peaceful protesters and law-abiding Nigerians. They also demanded a public apology from the police as well as the return of all mobile phones and other valuables stolen from protesters by the same police meant to protect them.

Highlighting the second reason for their latest action, the organisers alleged that it was now clear that President Bola Tinubu is on a mission to divide the country and set it aflame so that “he can continue to keep himself and the corrupt privileged clique around him in power.”

They noted that this explained the heavy-handed and disproportionate killings of protesters in the North and other parts of the country.

“At least over 40 protesters, mostly our Northern brothers and sisters, have been killed while hundreds have been arrested and detained over the course of the past few days. We hereby demand the immediate and unconditional release of the National Coordinator of the Youth Rights Campaign (YRC) Adaramoye Michael Lenin, Babatunde Oluajo and the hundreds of protesters arrested across the country.

“We stand opposed to the senseless killings of our brothers and sisters for daring to protest hunger and hardship. These three days of mourning are to demonstrate that we shall continue to stand with our siblings from all parts of the country in this dark hour, and together with them, we shall fight for justice for those who have been killed and for an end to all forms of bad governance in this country,” the statement added.

The organisers called for “the immediate sack of the Inspector General of Police and the setting up of a democratically constituted public probe into the killings, wanton destruction and violence in various parts of the country during the course of the protest.”

They urged the Commissioner of Police in Lagos State to respect their rights as citizens to mourn their dead, and called on Mr Tinubu to provide answers to their various demands, which, according to them, have remained unmet.