The convener of the #RevolutionNow movement, Omoyele Sowore, has issued a list of 14 demands from Nigerians to President Bola Tinubu’s administration, targeting the nation’s governance issues.
These demands precede the planned ‘Days of Rage’ protests, set to occur from late July to August 2024.
Although the organisers of the protests are still unknown, Sowore, a longstanding activist and government critic, has been promoting the protest.
Sowore, sharing the demands on his social media account, emphasised that they reflect the inputs of Nigerians participating in the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria campaign.
He stated, “So far, these are the commonest but fundamental demands from those who have responded to pursuing a general set of DEMANDs to #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria for the Days of Rage revolt scheduled for the end of July until August 2024.”
The 14 demands listed by Sowore are as follows:
1. New Constitution: Scrap the 1999 Constitution and replace it with a people-made constitution for the Federal Republic of Nigeria through a Sovereign National Conference, followed by a National Referendum.
2. Legislative Reform: Abolish the Senate, retain the House of Representatives, and make lawmaking a part-time endeavor.
3. Minimum Wage: Ensure a minimum wage of at least N250,000 monthly for Nigerian workers.
4. Educational Investment: Heavily invest in education, provide grants instead of loans to students, and pursue free and compulsory education for children.
5. Release Nnamdi Kanu: Unconditionally release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and demilitarize the South East.
6. Renationalization: Renationalize publicly owned enterprises previously sold to government officials and their cronies.
7. Subsidy Regime: Reinstate a corruption-free subsidy regime to alleviate hunger, starvation, and multidimensional poverty.
8. Anti-Corruption Measures: Investigate past and present leaders who have looted the treasury, recover stolen funds, and use them to finance education, healthcare, and infrastructure.
9. Restructuring: Restructure Nigeria to accommodate its diversity, ensure resource control, decentralization, and regional development.
10. Security Reforms: Reform security agencies to stop human rights violations, eliminate redundancy, and enhance citizens’ security.
11. Energy Fund: Establish a Special Energy Fund to drive massive, corruption-free development in the power sector.
12. Electoral Body Reconstitution: Reconstitute the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to remove corrupt individuals and partisan hacks manipulating elections.
13. Public Works and Industrialization: Invest massively in public works and industrialization to employ the country’s large youth population.
14. Judicial Reform: Undertake a massive shake-up in the judiciary to remove corrupt judges and officers, ensuring everyday citizens have access to real justice.
Earlier, President Bola Tinubu convened an emergency closed-door meeting on Thursday with top traditional rulers, security chiefs, and governors from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). The high-level meeting took place at the State House in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
Leading the APC governors was Hope Uzodinma, Chairman of the Progressives Governors’ Forum and Imo State Governor.
The meeting was also attended by first-class traditional rulers, including the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi, and the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Saad Abubakar III, along with other traditional leaders from across the country.
Key security figures at the meeting included National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu, Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun, and various ministers and members of the President’s cabinet.
Additionally, a delegation of Islamic scholars (Ulamas) joined the discussions later in the day.
The protests, organized in response to governance issues and rising living costs, have garnered significant public interest and concern.
After the call for protests began to gain ground, the Federal Government, governors and the security establishment have been trying to dissuade organisers from going ahead with the protest.
On Wednesday, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) held a meeting in Abuja, starting Wednesday night and ending early Thursday.
NGF Chairman and Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, shared that the meeting featured a briefing from the National Security Adviser (NSA), who highlighted the increasing momentum for the protests and assured support in enhancing state security
On Thursday, military authorities issued warnings that certain elements might attempt to hijack the protest to incite chaos, similar to recent events in Kenya.
The police echoed these concerns, cautioning against potential violence reminiscent of the EndSARS protests against police brutality in October 2020.
President Bola Tinubu, through the Information Minister, had appealed for patience and called for postponing the protests.
The minister said, “You see, the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu believes in the freedom of everyone within the confines of the law to do what he thinks is right for him.
“Therefore, the President is not an opponent of protest of any kind but the President is an opponent of violence and anything that will negatively hamper the wellbeing of Nigerians.
“He believes and has always been saying that within the tenets of democracy, you have every right to do whatever you want to do provided that right does not infringe on another person’s right.
“Why everybody is very cautious and very weary of this national protest is because we have seen what has happened around the world.
“We know that it’s almost impossible to hold this protest and then have peace at the end of the day. We cannot do that because some people are waiting to take the laws into their own hands.”
