The Take-It-Back Movement in Osun State has announced its intention to continue its ongoing protest immediately after the Osun Osogbo festival.
The movement, which has been advocating for the Nigerian government to meet the demands of its citizens, emphasised the continuation of their peaceful demonstrations.
The organisers urged security agents to maintain their presence to ensure the safety of both people and property during the protests, as mandated by law.
This was contained in a statement released on Tuesday by Samson Tola, the Coordinator of the Take it Back Movement, who urged security personnel to be present to safeguard the lives and properties of the protesters, as stipulated by law, as they had been doing since the beginning of the protest.
The statement read, “We saw a viral statement said to have been issued by a group called the Coalition of Concerned Nigerian Citizens stating an end to the nationwide End Hunger Protest that has commenced since the 1st of August till the present time across the state of the federation including Osun State and we want to set the record straight and make our own position known to the public on this stance.
“It’s worthy to note that the end bad governance protest is formed out of the continuous hunger and starvation in the country as a result of the reckless policies of the President Tinubu administration and as such the protest has no singular leadership and it remains organic.
He said, “Also we want to remind the public that the protest was initially stated for 10 days and possibly beyond (August 1st -10th) and the protest is still ongoing across the country in line with the nationally designed rooster and the fact that President Tinubu has refused to address the immediate cause of the protest in his last national address is a good reason for the protest to continue at least until the stipulated date or beyond.”
Tola added that no individual or group was capable of ending the protest for personal or collective reasons because no Nigerian owns Nigeria more than any other. Furthermore, the reason cited in the statement is not substantial enough to justify ending the protest in the state.
“We want to state categorically that OSUN osogbo festival has been coming and going and the TIB as an ideology organization has always participated in the festival with our members in large numbers to demonstrate and register our displeasure to the situation of things in the country without causing any fear or obstruction to millions of worshipers every year till the last and this year edition won’t be exception.
“This is how we have been participating for some years now and we feel there is interaction between the physical and the spiritual world thus we do present the NIGERIAN problems to the OSUN goddess annually and unnoticeably.”
According to Tola, about 40 protesters, primarily from the Northern region, have been killed by security operatives, and many more have been detained in recent days.
“We urge the authorities to release Adaramoye Michael Lenin, National Coordinator of the Youth Rights Campaign, Babatunde Oluajo, and all protesters arrested nationwide without conditions.
“We condemn the unjustified use of force against those exercising their right to protest against economic hardship and poor governance, and we will continue to advocate for justice for the victims and improved governance in the country.”
“Finally, we hold that any group of protesters have the right to continue to engage peacefully on the street to drive home the demands of our collective struggle,” he said.
