Take It Back Movement Vows Protest At Eagle Square, Says It Is Double Insult To Tag Nigerian Protesters Faceless

One of the protest organisers\ against hunger and hardship, the Take It Back Movement, has vowed to proceed at Eagle Square in Abuja, regardless of government approval.

Damilare Adenola, the Director of Mobilisation, made this vow during a session on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme, stating that Eagle Square is a public property.

The protest against economic hardship, which is fast gaining support on social media, has been scheduled across all states of the Federation and the FCT in August.

West Africa Weekly reported that there is palpable fear among Nigerian political officeholders ahead of the #EndBadGovernance nationwide protest scheduled to start on August 1.

This has prompted President Bola Tinubu, his aides, and members of his cabinet to issue threats to citizens warning against the planned protests. They have also held multiple meetings with governors, security chiefs, traditional rulers, and other stakeholders to prevent it.

Recall that FCT Minister Nyesom Wike declared that Abuja, a key protest site, will not be available for protests on August 1, reserving the date to honour the traditional rulers of the six area councils in the capital.

In a letter signed by Adenola, the organisers of the nationwide protests demanded the release of Eagle Square between August 1 and 10, 2024, for the peaceful demonstration.

However, Wike claimed on Saturday that he hadn’t received the letter.

Responding to this, Adenola said it may be due to government bureaucracy or Wike’s lack of sincerity about receiving the letter.

He said:

“If he (Wike) insists that he hasn’t received it, the alternative is that he was served by publication because many Nigerian ministries streamline what to receive or not. If he says he didn’t get it physically, then we could as well say that he was served by publication.

“If he says he wants it by Monday, we will serve him.”

We are going to be at the Eagle Square on August 1st, he declared.

Adenola also called it a double insult to label the organisers of the protest, who are majorly hungry, unemployed, and hopeless Nigerians, as faceless.

He said hunger is a great motivation for the protest and that the protest organisers need not be privileged Nigerians before they can express themselves against the government’s misconduct.

In his words:

The organisers of the protest are hungry Nigerians; they are a host of unemployed Nigerians, and they are a host of hopeless Nigerians who are roaming the streets. They are the out-of-school children spread across the country. These are the organisers of the protest and the greatest motivation of this #EndBadGovernance protest is hunger. Young people are tired and need to express their displeasure.

Reflecting on President Tinubu’s one year in office, West Africa Weekly reported that it had been one marked by pain and disappointment due to economic hardships exacerbated by the government’s disastrous twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and unification of forex windows, imposition of multiple insensitive taxes, surging food prices, a depreciating value of the naira, and escalating insecurity.

This is not the first time hungry Nigerian youths have come out to express their grievances since Tinubu took over as president.

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