Organisers of the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protests have vowed not to back down from protesting worsening conditions in the Country.

They vowed, despite treason charges levelled against several protesters arrested, to sustain momentum in protest until the ruling class in Nigeria prioritises the interest of Nigerians.

Recall that the Federal Government last Friday arraigned no fewer than 76 protesters who were arrested during the last #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest in the country.

The protesters who had among them minors, who were visibly looking malnourished in a video which circulated, were arraigned by the Inspector-General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun before Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court in Abuja on 10 counts, including treason, incitement to mutiny by urging the military to remove President Bola Tinubu and other related charges. All 76 defendants pleaded not guilty.

Recall PUNCH Online had reported how as the defendants were brought to the courtroom, four of them ? the 8th, 66th, 69th, and 49th defendants ? collapsed while moving to the dock. They lay on the floor in pain, prompting lawyers and prison officers to assist them out of the courtroom.

Reacting to the development, organisers of the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest decried the trial of the minors as an unprecedented misfit on the part of the government, while pledging to sustain the protest until the conditions of the poor were prioritised in the country.

Speaking to PUNCH Online, on Saturday night, the Director of Mobilisation, Take It Back Movement, Damilare Adenola, said Nigerians should expect ?a series of protests? in reaction to the worsening conditions in the country.

He said, ?The same way protesters were arrested and brutalised? in the northern part of the country was the same way protesters were arrested and brutalised in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, and other parts of the country.?

?So there was no preferential treatment,? he said discrediting a purported north/south divide in the orientation that guided the protest.

Mentioning that the protesters ?remain the poor Nigerians, economically marginalised young people and they are not differentiated by tribes,? he alleged that the display of Russian flag during the protest ?was a calculated attempt by the ruling party to give a disgraceful face to the protest.?

He said the emphasis on the display of Russian flags was an attempt to downplay the clamours of Nigerians against hardship and poverty, decrying ?the inhuman treatment we saw at the Federal High Court.?

?Until the ruling class in Nigeria prioritises the interest of the Nigerian people, we should get ready for a series of unending revolts from the class of the poor Nigerian people who have been impoverished by their wicked economic policies over the years,? he said.

The organiser of the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria in Ibadan, Oyo State, Kayode Babayomi, said as far as the country is concerned, ?the Nigerian people have the right to come out to say enough is enough to end bad governance irrespective of the region.?

He said given the prevailing conditions in the country, ?Nigerians should be sleeping on the street as I speak to you.?

He added ?It is high time Nigerians have this resistance and revolting mentality. Nigerians come out en masse to end bad governance.

?Nigerians who protested in the northern part of the country are also clamouring for good governance and are against bad governance because hunger is now the party card for every Nigerian.

?It is the same protest, same demand, it is end bad governance. But it?s so sad that the Federal Government is trying them for treason which is against the fundamental right of those arrested,? Babayomi who is the State Chairman of African Action Congress, Oyo State, said.

On the controversy of brandishing Russian flags by some protesters which the government have frowned against, citing foreign elements were behind sponsoring the protest, Babayomi said the government has no reason to try the arrested protesters because of raising foreign flags, citing the instance of institutions across the country which have flags of countries displayed at their facilities.

?Can you overthrow a government with flags? As we speak, some countries are solidarising with Palestinians and some with Israel; you see the flags of Palestine in front of some houses, likewise Israel?s flag. It is just that the government of the day have prioritised injustice, and impunity is their major business in government. It is so bad to say they are trying protesters for treason. How is demand for a better country a treason? It shows the present administration is not actually for the people,? he said.

Babayomi said the government should rather address the root causes of why Nigerians are storming the streets, saying ?If everything is fine, you won?t see people coming out to say end bad governance.?

He, however, distanced the call to end bad governance from the call for a military takeover of government, decrying any option for military intervention to seize power.

Mentioning the days of military rule as the basis of major problems in the country, he said ?Military takeover is not the solution because the bedrock of our problem today was the when the military took over the country.

?So, we never pray the military take over. It?s never in our plan, wish and dream that we should see the military taking over this country any longer? That?s another bondage on its own. We are categorically against the military taking over the country.

?All that we want from the present administration is just to resign and leave the place. They don?t have a clue about going forward in making Nigeria better. For the sake of Nigerians, they should resign.? (Sunday PUNCH)

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