Soldiers, police officers, and other security forces occupied Abuja’s iconic Eagle Square on Tuesday, which will host the #EndBadGovernance demonstration on Thursday in the Federal Capital Territory and other major towns.
Our correspondents on the square counted more than 300 security personnel at the facility.
In addition, 26 military trucks, 12 police patrol vehicles, and a Black Maria were stationed inside and surrounding the arena.
The security personnel took control of the square after the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, and the protest organisers differed on how to conduct the demonstration.
In a virtual conference with the IG on Tuesday, the group rejected the police idea for constrained demonstrations.
Egbetokun has suggested that the protests be limited to specific places for public safety reasons.
However, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, the solicitor for the demonstration organisers, rejected the notion.
Femi Falana, SAN, a human rights lawyer, attended the conference, as did other important members of the Take It Back Movement and other civil society organisations.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Adegboruwa said the area of disagreement was the confinement of protesters to a particular location.
He mentioned the organisers disagreed because it was against their fundamental rights.
Adegboruwa said, “We agreed that the citizens of Nigeria are entitled to protest and that the police would not do anything that would hinder or jeopardise the exercise of that right. That was a basic thing we all agreed upon. We also agreed that police have a statutory duty to offer protection to citizens whenever they protest.
“Our area of disagreement was the area of confinement. The police prefer, based on the venue sent to them, we should protest in a confined arena. We insisted that we have a right to rally and embark on a procession. They said they don’t have the manpower that would go round across all cities.”
