The Director of Mobilisation of Take It Back Movement (TIBM), Damilare Adenola, on Sunday declared that protest against hardship scheduled for August 1 to 10, 2024, would hold at Eagle Square with or without the permission of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
The Movement (TIBM) is one of the non-governmental organizations behind the protest tagged: #EndBadGovernance, scheduled for August 1 to 10 nationwide.
BAR & BENCH WATCH reports that Wike had declared that no one had applied to him to make use of the Eagle Square for the protest.
But speaking on behalf of the protesters, Damilare Adenola, the Director of Mobilisation, Take It Back Movement, said they had since sent a letter of request to the former Rivers State governor for the use of the facility.
He said: “It is possible that the receipt of the letter is being delayed by, most likely, bureaucracy in government or the minister is likely being insincere about receiving the letter.
“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,” he said, adding that in any event, Wike cannot stop them from using Eagle Square because it is a public property.
Adenola, who spoke on a Channels Television programme: “Sunday Politics,” further explained: “The truth is that the Eagle Square is a public property.
“When I saw the video of the minister, I was amazed because I saw the minister asking us to pay rent, pay security fees and all that.
“My question to the minister is this: how does the minister expect a greater population of Nigerian youths who are impoverished, who have no jobs to afford the exorbitant fee he is expecting us to pay?
“We are going to be at the Eagle Square on August 1st.
“It’s a double insult to tag the organisers of the protest as faceless.
“The organisers of the protest are hungry Nigerians.
“They are a host of unemployed Nigerians.
“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.
“People are really hungry.
“This is the idea of battered Nigerian people.
“This is the idea of hungry Nigerian people.
“This is the idea of hopeless Nigerian people.
“Young people are tired and need to express their displeasure against the government’s malfeasance.”
Adenola revealed that the bank account of the organisation was blocked on the orders of the Department of State Services.
He said security agencies should take up the challenge and make themselves available at all protest venues in the country.
