Human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, has declared that participants in the proposed nationwide protest will receive free legal representation if they are arrested or charged in Lagos State.
Recently, Nigerians have been using social media platforms like X and Facebook to express their concerns about the ongoing economic crisis in the country.
Consequently, a protest has been scheduled from August 1-10, 2024.
Effiong, who supports the protests, took to his X handle on Thursday, July 25, 2024, to request legal counsels in the state to volunteer their services.
His tweet read, “We are putting together a legal team in Lagos State to offer representation to any protester who may be arrested and or charged to court during the forthcoming peaceful protest. My learned colleagues practising in Lagos, please share your WhatsApp numbers with me via DM if you would love to offer pro bono services to protesters. Thank you. History will vindicate the just.”
In a phone interview on Friday, one of the lawyers offering free representation, Omodolapo Yusuf, emphasized the importance of raising awareness to prevent individuals with ulterior motives from joining the protest.
Yusuff stated, “We should continue to make awareness, to make people understand the reasons why these protests must go on. We are all in this country, buying from the same markets. The people coming out to protest are not coming out for themselves but for the betterment of the people at the grassroots. Protest is a fundamental human right. Some of these men (security operatives) tend to compromise their roles, and it is unfortunate that we are in this situation.”
Yusuff downplayed the likelihood of the protest being hijacked, stressing that adequate public awareness would prevent such occurrences.
“If we know why we are going to protest, there is no way things would be vandalised. We are going to protect ourselves, public property, private business and against looting,” Yusuff said.
He also mentioned that the protesters’ demands include an increase in the national minimum wage of N70,000 and addressing the high cost of food items, among others.
Another lawyer, Benjamin Odeh, who is set to join the legal team, criticized the use of “high-handedness” by leaders in power to intimidate the populace.
When asked about the absence of leaders to front the protests, Odeh explained, “Protest is a constitutional right of Nigerians, but the challenge we have had over the years is that governments are intolerant of protests from Nigerians,” which he said leads the government to “find ways to destabilise the protest so they can come in with security forces to attack genuine protesters.”
Reflecting on the potential for the protest to be hijacked, Odeh recalled the 2020 #EndSARS movement, saying, “The 2020 #EndSARS was going on smoothly but when the government saw that the protest was gathering momentum, the government-sponsored thugs destabilise the protest,” yet the protesters remained resolute despite the infiltrations.
Despite calls from some state governors and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory for the protesters to desist, citing efforts by the Federal Government to improve the economy, President Bola Tinubu held emergency meetings on Thursday with All Progressives Congress state governors, prominent traditional rulers, and Ulamas, Islamic religious scholars, at the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja, aiming to prevent the nationwide hunger protests.
