A coalition of Nigerian activists over the weekend announced scheduled protests today in the nation’s capital, Abuja, and economic hub, Lagos.

The protests are in reaction to “Nigeria’s troubling state of affairs,” according to the organisers, Enough is Enough (EiE Nigeria).

A statement made available to News Express and signed by EiE Nigeria Media Associate Akindeji Aromaye said the protests would mark the expiration of a two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government that has been ignored.

The statement said: “On Monday, December 9th, some civil society organisations gave the Nigerian government 14 days to honor 5 demands.

“The 14-day ultimatum expires on Monday, Dec 23rd and the countdown has begun.”

One of the demands is “for an investigation into the SSS officers who violated protocol and the circumstances leading to the re-arrest of Omoyele Sowore.”

The statement disclosed that “in Abuja and Lagos, there will be a rally to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to demand that they tell their supervisor – the Presidency – that the continued violation of human rights and rule of law will result in civil disobedience.”

The statement quoted the words of Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka: “May I remind this government that disobedience calls to disobedience, and that disobedience of the orders of the constitutional repository of the moral authority of arbitration – the judiciary – can only lead eventually to a people’s disregard of the authority of other arms of civil society, a state of desperation that is known, recognized and accepted as– civil disobedience.

“It is so obvious – state disobedience leads eventually to civil disobedience, piecemeal or through a collective withdrawal of recognition of other structures of authority. That way leads to chaos but – who set it in motion? As is often the case, the state, unquestionably. Such a state bears full responsibility for the ensuing social condition known as anomie.”

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