The Coalition of Civil Society Organisations, under the aegis of the Coalition of Genuine Civil Society Organisations and Rights Activists, has appealed to state governors and security agents not to escalate the planned protest scheduled for August 1.
The coalition, while briefing the press at the Human Rights building in Ijaye, Ifako Ijaiye Local Government Area, Lagos State, yesterday, stated that the organizer of the protest aims to condemn government policies that are anti-people.
They noted that rather than attempting to suppress the protest, the government should engage with the organizer.
Speaking on behalf of the coalition, Comrade Declan Ihekaire of Activists for Good Governance, supported by other human rights leaders, including Comrades Ekundayo Shoyoye, Kushimo Olumiyiwa, Funmilayo Jolade-Ajayi, Bolaji Komolafe, and Lawal Adewale, emphasized that the efforts of some state governors to stop the protest by consulting with fake human rights groups would not be successful.
According to him, they are participating in the protest because the situation in the country is intolerable. “We have reached a point we cannot endure any longer. The protest represents the voice of every conscious member of society.”
Ihekaire stated that the long notice given by the protest organizer was sufficient for the government to make policy adjustments to pacify aggrieved Nigerians.
He maintained that no individual or group can purport to speak for the protest organizer without the express approval of the movement.
Ihekaire, therefore, advised those who believe the crisis will lead to violence to reconsider. “We wish to make it clear that the narrative suggesting the protest will result in violence and destruction of lives and property is simply a figment of the imagination of the government and agents opposed to the planned peaceful protests.”
