By Ayodele Oni
The Take-It-Back Movement has urged Nigerians to join the protest over what it described as the worsening insecurity, hunger, economic hardship, political repression and the erosion of democratic freedoms under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
This is just as the Lawyers in Defence of Democracy Initiative (LIDD) announced the deployment of its members to protest grounds across the country on Wednesday, to provide legal support and monitor the protection of demonstrators’ rights.
The move comes as the Take-It-Back Movement prepares for its planned nationwide peaceful protest, tagged the “Festival of the Oppressed.”
In a statement issued in Lagos on Tuesday and signed by its Public Relations Officer, Joseph Aliu, LIDD said it would not leave Nigerians exercising their constitutional right to peaceful assembly without legal protection.
The group said it would work alongside the Take-It-Back Movement’s Legal Aid Department throughout the demonstrations.
LIDD declared: “Silence is not an option!”
The lawyers also warned both protesters and security agencies to operate within the law, urging all sides to respect public order and fundamental rights.
The development comes as the protest organisers formally notified the Nigeria Police Force of their plans.
In a letter dated August 4 and addressed to the Inspector-General of Police, WCE & Co. Chambers, solicitors to the Take-It-Back Movement, informed the police that protesters would take to the streets nationwide from 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday.
The lawyers said the notification was meant to enable the police to prepare for traffic control, public safety and protection of protesters, journalists and other members of the public.
They stressed that the notice was not a request for police permission to hold the protest.
The organisers said simultaneous demonstrations would take place at designated convergence points in Abuja, Lagos, Benin City, Ibadan, Ilorin, Maiduguri and Minna, while protesters in other states would gather peacefully at locations within their respective areas.
The solicitors argued that the protest was protected by Sections 39 and 40 of the 1999 Constitution, as well as provisions of the Police Act, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
They also cited the 2007 Court of Appeal decision in Inspector-General of Police v. All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), which held that Nigerians do not require police permits to organise peaceful processions.
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