REVEALED: Popular lawyer discloses advantages and disadvantages of 'End Bad Governance' protest in Nigeria

• Barrister Tony Dania has proffered possible solutions to the current Nigerian challenges
• In an interview on the eve of the proposed nationwide protest against economic hardship by disgruntled Nigerians, Dania harped on 'populist government policies that are self-executory'
• Legit.ng reports that there appears to be no going back on the proposed 'EndBadGovernance' nationwide protest slated to commence today, Thursday, August 1

Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over 9 years of experience covering public journalism.

Ikeja, Lagos state - A prominent Lagos-based human rights activist and lawyer, Barr. Tony Dania has said about 25 percent of the target of the #EndBadGovernance protest has already been achieved even before staging the protest.

Dania, who is the Principal of Dania and Associate, said the protests erupted because the government was not proactive in addressing the issues that led to the planned demonstrations.

Protests against economic hardship in Nigeria start today, Thursday, August 1, nationwide
Source: Original

He said, however, that the federal government has woken up and is already responding to the demands and yearnings of the suffering citizens.

While addressing journalists in Lagos on Wednesday, July 31, Dania explained that the government has already come up with some populist policies to ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians by declaring the selling of rice at a lower price, settling the issue related to the Dangote refinery, and approving minimum wage for the workers.

He said:

"They're selling rice. They're coming up with populist policies, which is something they would have done before. They are trying to get to the issue that relates to Dangote refinery, which is something they would have thought before now. So I think the protest has succeeded to some extent."

"Protest peacefully"

Meanwhile, Dania stated that although he supported the protest if peaceful, he desisted from participating in it because it was not well-coordinated without a clear leader controlling the movements, adding that the protest may be hijacked by hoodlums and become fatal, pushing the country into chaos.

According to the legal practitioner, the 'organisers' of the protests do not have well-coordinated plans for the protests.

He said:

"Can any of the organisers control the protests if hijacked by the criminals? Can they control protests against the protest because the government will also protest against the protests and some politicians may even plant the thugs among the genuine protesters? Can they control the situation?"The protest is justified and I support it except that I am not in support of the protesting being hijacked by criminals or by politicians."You can't stop the area boys from coming in. You can't stop the government from making their own protests against the protests."The protest is totally justified even though some cases have been seen to be very pronounced for other parties. It is not a partisan thing. But then, politicians can still take advantage of it, you know, protests that will lead to the destruction of scarce infrastructures. I will not support that. Protests that will lead to the killing of police personnel like what happened during the #EndSARS saga, I will not support protests that will lead to destruction. But everything in the society is evolving, not static. So, we should look at the best way to effect protests and reduce the damages that usually go with protests in Nigeria."For instance, what I'm doing here is a form of protest, and it's effective and it does not do any damage to the society."

The legal practitioner said the genesis of the protests bordered on conspicuous corruption among government officials both at the federal and state levels; some cases of alleged serious fraud and fraudulent enrichment; high cost of living; very low incentives for medium and small scale industries; oil and gas and maritime impact on the economy; as well as youth restiveness and unemployment.

He was of the view that the protests would not last the ten days as pronounced by the organisers, saying more than 40% of Nigerians cannot wait for so long as they depend on their daily jobs for their survival.

Dania asked the federal government should make populist policies that are self executory and support the Dangote refinery which he said would contribute more than 30% to the nation's economy by creating thousands of jobs along the value chains; support the local framer; and tackle the insecurity on the country. He added that other business transactions in maritime and others should be carried out in naira as done for the Dangote refinery.

'Nationwide protest not shelved', Sowore speaks

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Omoyele Sowore, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), said claims of the postponement of the planned 'End Bad Governance' protest, are "fake".

Sowore — believed to be one of the organisers of the protest — quashed the statement and said it was "issued by the Bola Tinubu regime officials and despicable security agencies in Abuja in a desperate attempt to demoralise Nigerians".

Source: Legit.ng