Sowore, others defy police order, lead Independence Day protest in Abuja

Omoyele Sowore, leader of the Revolution Now movement arrested and detaind for months in 2019 has again led the movement in a nationwide rally on October 1, in defiance of police ban on protests.

While Sowore, the publisher of Sahara Reporters,  led the group in coalition with others in Abuja where the procession moved to the US embassy, other group leaders in Lagos, Osun , Oyo and others also trooped out in protest.

The protesters said the present administration under President Muhammadu Buhari has failed Nigerians as insecurity, poverty, and corruption increase.

They then demand his resignation.

Others in the Abuja protest included #BringBackOurGirls activist Aisha Yesufu, Ariyo Dare-Atoye, Henry Shield, Adebayo Raphael, Deji Adeyanju of Concerned Nigerians, among others, criticised what they described as oppression in the country.

The protesters ignored security agencies’ presence around the Unity Fountain, Maitama, where a rally was supposed to hold, and held the rally elsewhere, at Area one, Life Camp, Jabi, Kuje, Kwali, Kubwa and Lugbe.

The Lagos rally threw up a little police brutality. A photojournalist with the Punch was clubbed down by a police officer while no fewer than 30 protesters were allegedly arrested.

Sowore was granted bail in March on condition that he would not address even a crowd of more than 10 people, among other conditions.