Organisers of the nationwide #EndBadGovernance protest against hunger and hardship have vowed to continue their agitation until the tenth day despite the deployment of security operatives to intimidate them.
In an interview with journalists, Ene Obi, the former country director of ActionAid Nigeria, and Hauwa Mustapha, key organisers of the protest, stated that they would persist in demonstrating at the Moshood Abiola Stadium until the conclusion of the 10-day protest.
On Tuesday, other protesters had abandoned the cause, leaving only the two women at the stadium. No protest was held in Abuja that day.
Ene Obi said, “Look at the president speaking to Nigeria. It was a totally empty speech. What are you telling us? Not even one of the demands has been met. And you are telling us to go to the stadium. We are here at the stadium now. Let our children come.”
Obi continued, “Bring down the prices of petroleum products. This is the same government that fought against the removal of fuel subsidies. And now the same president is using it to punish Nigerians.
“We are mothers. What they are doing is setting our children against us. Even the police and security agencies—none of them are going to a different market. Their money is useless.
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TheyEne Obi are turning our children against us. We are sitting here, let them teargas us. Many of them, I could give birth to them.
“The mothers in the land are wounded. No employment. Many of our children have gone to school but have no employment. We are calling for an end to bad governance.
“They said you need to appoint one minister from every state. We don’t have ‘Minister of State’ in the constitution. And they are even creating more seats for more ministers to come in.
“There are no signs from the government to show us that they can bring down the cost of governance.”
This development follows days of violent protests in the nation’s capital, with police operatives firing tear gas at the protesters.
