#EndBadGovernance protest kicks off nationwide, as counter protesters arrive Abuja in coaster busses  

 

The #EndbadGovernance  protest has commenced nationwide, with Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Bayelsa showing signs that it will be massive.  

In Abuja, the commissioner of police warned the protesters to obey a court order which directed that the protest be held at the MKO Abiola Stadium. The commissioner of police said the protesters should protest inside the main bowl of the stadium, not outside. 

But legal counsel for the protesters, Deji Adeyanju said the protesters are already in obedience of the court order since they are within the premises of the stadium. 

In Lagos, the protesters started a procession from the Ikeja under bridge to Alausa in defiance of a court order that restricted the protest to parks in the state. 

In Rivers and Bayelsa, the protest has also kicked off, with protesters having a field day in a carnival-like rally. 

But the protest in Abuja has become tense, with pro-government counter protesters arriving in four white coaster buses at the MKO Abiola Stadium. They also held up placards in support of the government and against protest.

Ebun Adegboruwa, a senior lawyer and member of the team engaging with the Nigerian Police Force to ensure that the nationwide protests said that Nigerian authorities are desperate to abort the protests by sponsoring thugs to disrupt them.

The lawyer raised concerns about the Tinubu-led government’s desperation to disrupt the protests by deploying thugs, citing the police’s posture while he and others “dialogue with law enforcement and security agencies” over the protests.

“The insistence by the Inspector-General of Police on ‘credible intelligence’ about plans for violence confirms the government’s desperation to abort the protests by sponsoring hooligans and thugs to disrupt them,” Mr Adegboruwa said. “This is currently happening in many parts of Lagos State.”

Mr Adegboruwa raised this concern in a Facebook post on the eve of the protest, appealing to security agencies, protesters, and the government to remain within the bounds of the law during the protests.