Omole Ibukun is one of the leaders of the #EndBadGovernance protests in Nigeria. In this interview with OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, the Initiator of Creative Change Centre and member, Network of Abuja Left Groups, speaks on the impact of the nationwide protests, arrest of one of its leaders, Adaramoye Michael (Lenin), alleged links with opposition leaders and foreign sponsors, display of Russian flag by some protesters, the Presidents nationwide broadcast and other issues.... CLICK TO READ THE FULL NEWS HERE▶▶
How was one of the organisers of #EndBadGovernance protests, Adaramoye Michael (Lenin) arrested?
Adaramoye Micheal (Lenin) was picked at our residence at Apo, Abuja between 1:50am and 2:00am on Monday, August 5, less than 10 hours after a press conference where the condemned the president’s broadcast on the nationwide #EndHunger Protests. He was arrested alongside other occupants of the apartment, including Babatunde Oluajo (Sankara), Mosiu Sodiq, and a fourth occupant. According to neighbours, plain-cloth DSS operatives arrived at the apartment at midnight in seven trucks and took them away in blindfolds.
The fourth occupant was released on Wednesday. They were held incommunicado from their lawyers until Wednesday. We learnt that they were picked up on the orders of the NSA, Nuhu Ribadu, to avoid the Monday protests from happening, after we had vowed to continue with the protests in Abuja at the press conference on Sunday afternoon. They were later dumped at the IRT by the DSS. Legal efforts are still ongoing to secure their release.
What does his arrest mean for your group?
For us, we are not unaware of the tactics of arresting mobilisers of justified protests just to ensure that the protests do not continue. Despite the arrest, the Day 5 of the protest went on as planned in Abuja and it was repressed with tear gas canisters shot at protesters. We believe that the only way to ruffle, demystify, pressurise and put dictators on their toes is to never back down and never get tired of exposing their backwardness and bad policies to the people who are constant victims of those policies.
Micheal Lenin Adaramoye,
What do you make of Mr President’s national broadcast?
The President’s broadcast is nothing but an attempt to gaslight and manipulate us all into silence. We think that the President only exposed the fact that he is out of touch with the needs of Nigerians with that broadcast. The refusal to acknowledge the state violence on protesters and journalists only shows that the President sanctioned that violence and condoned it, as against what he tried to say in the speech. We think that it has become important for Nigerians to refuse to be blackmailed by the propaganda of being sponsored for some political agenda, but stick to our demands for an end to hunger, hardship and bad governance in Nigeria.
Has the President assuaged your demands with his second address that went viral on Wednesday?
I think the only thing that appeals to protesters is solution or a definite timeline where the solutions will manifest, not empty promises and treacherous appeals. The president is appealing to those protesting against hardship, yet fuel queues are back on Abuja roads. The approach of appealing to protesters to not protest instead of actually making genuine attempts to address the reasons for the protests is not a reasonable approach.
How true is the allegation by the Nigerian government that #EndBadGovernance protesters have diaspora sponsors?
I think the allegations of sponsorship are just attempts to call a dog a bad name so as to hang it. The government tried everything to delegitimize the protests even before it started. A protest is a democratic right, whether it has sponsors or not. A protest is a democratic right whether the sponsors are in diaspora or not, so that issue is just mainly to distract from the practical realities that instigated the protests. The reality of hardship, hunger and bad governance was sponsored by the Tinubu Government and imposed on the Nigerian people. These sponsors are supposed to reside in Nigeria in their designated government houses, so it’s safe to say there is no diaspora sponsor.
If the Nigerian government is concerned about the fact that Nigerians in diaspora are supporting these protests, then they are not ready to listen. They are not ready to listen to the reality that most Nigerians in diaspora are not there because they wouldn’t prefer to be in Nigeria. They are there because they need a functioning country to achieve the best of their potential. We are aware of the anti-immigrants protests going on in the UK. No one wants to be at the receiving end of racism, and they would rather be home in Nigeria if not for bad governance and hardship. So, if such Nigerians in diaspora participate in the #EndBadGovernance protests with their voice from wherever they are in the world, are they wrong?
Did you envisage that the protests would turn violent?
We envisaged it, and tried to avoid it. We envisaged it, not because we didn’t trust protesters to remain non-violent. We envisaged it because we didn’t trust the Nigerian State to not incite the peaceful protesters to violence. Throughout all the days of the protests which I participated in, protesters remained peaceful until they were tear gassed by the Nigerian Police. In that situation, it is impossible for any of those of us mobilising to stop the protesters who wish to defend themselves, especially given the fact that we are also busy trying to protect ourselves from the brutality of the Nigerian security forces and the thugs of the government.
Protesters with Nigerian, Russian and other country’s flags during day-five of #EndBadGovernance protest in Kaduna…yesterday.
What is your reaction to the flying of Russian flag and calls for President Putin’s intervention?
I think that anyone can have any demand in a protest. I can go to a protest and call on God to intervene. I can lead a protest to the US embassy for their intervention. I can lead a protest to the Russian embassy for their intervention on a human rights issue, if I feel Russia has leverage to force the hand of my government to respect human rights. It’s not a big deal. The Nigerian government is making it a big deal because they want anything to delegitimize these justified protests. Who is to say the same government that sponsored counter-protesters to delegitimize our protests did not sponsor the flags to delegitimize our protests? Calling for international intervention is not a crime. It is not against the tenets of democracy or patriotism to call for international intervention in a protest.
Some demonstrators have also called for military intervention. Do you subscribe to this?
No, I do not subscribe to military intervention. I do not subscribe to military dictatorship. But that should not be taken to mean that I believe that Nigeria is presently a democracy. In fact, Nigeria under Tinubu is an open civilian dictatorship. I do not believe that it is sensible to replace a civilian dictatorship with a military dictatorship. I think what Nigeria needs is a truly democratic system. I believe that this civilian dictatorship has already been enforced by the military. The Lekki Massacre is still fresh in our minds. The military was also recruited to repress protesters in these present protests. In fact, there is evidence of military shooting of a 16-year-old protester. So I do not think a military dictatorship is the alternative to a civilian dictatorship of Tinubu. A true democratic Nigeria is the only viable alternative.
Do you have foreign sponsors bankrolling you?
None. None at all. But I must not leave it at that. Even if those mobilising for these protests had foreign sponsors, the democratic thing to do is to not throw the baby out with the bathwater, but remove the economic realities that such ‘malicious’ foreign sponsors might be exploiting. If the fuel price goes back to 200 Naira today, and a foreign sponsor pays me to go and mobilise for a protest against the Tinubu government, it will be hard for me to gather anyone for such protests. So the practical solution is not to scream ‘foreign sponsor’ anytime we protest but to remove the poor economic conditions that such foreign sponsors might be exploiting to cause unrest.
Nigerian police patrols during the End Bad Governance protest at Ikeja, Lagos, on August 1, 2024. – Nigerian troops and police tightened security in Lagos and the capital Abuja on Thursday as they prepared for planned protests over the cost of living. Africa’s most populous country is struggling with soaring inflation and a sharply devalued naira currency after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu introduced reforms a year ago that aimed to revive the economy. (Photo by Benson Ibeabuchi / AFP)
Do you have links with Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi or other opposition politicians as alleged by the government?
None at all. During the elections, I campaigned openly against the three main candidates, Atiku, Obi and Tinubu because of their corrupt capitalist political history. But we must not also leave it at that. The fact that people support an opposition candidate does not deprive them of the democratic right to lead a protest against a sitting government. In fact, the culture of the democratic world is that such opposition candidates use protests to push sitting governments to implement reforms that they would have implemented if they did not lose the elections. And this is very normal for any democracy. So it is disheartening that our government tries to deprive people who belong to other political parties of the ability to exercise their democratic right to protests.
Some innocent Nigerians were attacked with their cars and property vandalised, what is your reaction to such?
I think it is the failure of the Nigerian government and the security agencies. From my experience in the Abuja protests, the protests gathered peacefully until it was repressed violently by security agencies. It is in the midst of violent self-defense by some protesters that I lost my iPhone. I do not hold it against the protesters defending themselves. Those who brought an atmosphere of violence to our protests are the security agencies, and they are at fault for any fallout of such violence, including vandalism and attacks of other citizens by the aggrieved protesters. Let us not also forget that the government also sponsored counter-protesters to mix with us and carry out violence. In fact, an ally of Ganduje, the chairman of the ruling party, was found to have paid thugs to loot in the name of protesters in Kano. Till date, nothing has been done by the government about this information. That shows that the government is complicit in sponsoring these looters and vandals to delegitimise our protests. Our government weaponises poverty and hunger against our people to make them commit crimes that will paint the protesters in bad light.
What next after the protest ends on August 10?
We will continue to mobilise Nigerians to demand better governance from their leaders in the most constructive way, so that we can preempt the time bomb of chaos that the hardship in Nigeria has activated and ensure that the energy of such anger is used to change Nigeria permanently whenever it bursts out again.
