The Coalition of Leftists Socialist Organisations had been flexing muscles to make good their plans to hold nationwide peaceful protests in different parts of the country and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on June 12 Democracy Day. The planned protest was to demand a better life for Nigerians who they said had been groaning under the yoke of economic hardship foisted on them by the President Tinubu’s administration.
True to their words, the activists galvanized their supporters to organize protests in some parts of the country. This pitched them against the security agents and led to the arrest of protesters in Lagos, Ibadan, Kano and parts of the Northern states despite the claim of the organizers that the protests were peaceful without any clash with security forces.
In what looks like a puzzle, the Lagos State Police Command has denied it does not have information regarding the alleged arrest of an activist, Comrade Juwon Sanyaolu, one of the organizers of the protest slated to occur in Lagos on June 12, Democracy Day. Sayanolu’s whereabouts had not been known since the night of Tuesday, June 11.
According to investigations by our correspondent, the activist was allegedly picked up by the police in a yet-to-be-known location in Lagos. One of the members of his groups who craved anonymity said he has been detained since Tuesday night at an undisclosed centre by the DSS.
PRP Vanguard, a human rights group, in its press release obtained by Africa Health Report, (AHR), confirmed the disappearance of Sanyaolu, the National Mobilisation Officer/Coordinator, Take It Back Movement (TIB). They claim the activist was arrested by operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS), on June 11, the eve of Democracy Day.
The statement read in part, “We can now confirm that comrade Juwon Sanyaolu, the national coordinator of the Take-it-Back Movement, has been arrested. He was picked up at around 10:05 pm yesterday 11th June 2024.
Comrade Juwon’s arrest may not be unconnected with the June 6, 2024 joint press conference of leftist parties and civil society groups that he addressed at the International Press Centre (IPC), Ogba, Lagos on the impending June 12 Anti-Hardship protest nationwide. The protest is hashtag “WeAreHungryProtest.”, the statement said.
The statement continues, “We are reliably informed that security operatives in Lagos state swooped in on comrade Juwon’s private space to arrest him and take him to an unknown location. Other comrades in Lagos and Kaduna have been reported missing, believed to be in the custody of state security operatives.
The group further said that the government crackdown on the fundamental rights of Nigerians to protest against what they called “state engineered mass hunger” across the country did not come as a surprise. According to them, law enforcement agents, especially the DSS, had been on air in the previous two days threatening citizens with arrest and detention if they dare come out on June 12 to protest.
They regretted that the arrest of the activists is a sharp contrast to President Tinubu’s statement in his June 12, 2024 address to the nation which said that his administration would not be like the previous regimes. They concluded that the crackdown against dissenting voices, especially those on the political left has shown that the present administration is not any different.
The group appealed to the president intervene in order to ensure the release of Sanyaolu. “We therefore call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to speedily intervene and effect the release of comrade Juwon Sanyaolu and his colleagues. We can’t be celebrating a Democracy Day with the illegal arrest and detention of those who are using peaceful means to draw the attention of the government to the plight of the people. Contradiction.”, the statement said.
Various leaders of the protesters have vowed that they would continue to demand an end to hardship and other forms oppression by the government. The question on the lips of many Nigerians is, when will attacks on people’ freedom to organize protests come to an end?
