ABUJA – Like the #EndSARS protests which rocked Nigeria in October 2020, the June 12 protest paralysed business activities in South-west states on Saturday.
The protest held simultaneously in the South-West states with the exception of Ekiti State.
The Democracy Day demonstrations were organised by some civil society organisations and activists with no particular central leadership structure.
They sought to express their grievances against the poor governance and the worsening insecurity in the country under President Muhammadu Buhari’s watch.
Even though the federal government and the authorities in various states had indicated their disapproval of the protests, the demonstrations recorded massive turnout of citizens, mostly the youth, on Saturday.
The protest took place in five of six South-west states. The five states which recorded massive turnout are Lagos, Osun, Oyo, Ondo and Ogun states.
Our reporter’s findings showed that no protest was held in Ekiti State due to fear of attack by security operatives.
But business activities were grounded even without the protest physically holding in the state.
Protesters, however, defied security forces’ harassment, teargas and gunshots fired to scare them away, in the other five states.
Lagos
There was massive turnout at the popular Gani Fawehinmi Park in Ojota, Lagos on Saturday. (Premium Times).