Gunshots rent the air on Monday morning as well-armed policemen and soldiers chased and forcibly dispersed members of the #RevolutionNow movement who converged on the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.
The #RevolutionNow protesters, began to arrive at the stadium around 7am on Monday, August 5, 2019 for the kick-off of the protest met a detachment of policemen at the entrance of the stadium.
A Facebook live video by SaharaReporters showed the protesters chanting “Go to Sambisa” to the policemen and women that had gathered at the venue preventing access to the Stadium.
Online news reports say soldiers joined the policemen at the Surulere location.
Eliaz Ozikpu, one of the protesters who spoke with TheCable, lamented that he was discussing the protest plans with others when security operatives crossed over the road to meet them.
“We were standing here, while they watched us from the other side. Suddenly, they moved on us and said we can’t talk to the press. We weren’t even talking to the press yet. We were addressing ourselves,” Ozikpu was quoted as saying.
“The protesters, however, started chanting calling for the release of Omoyele Sowore, convener of the movement who was arrested Saturday by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS),” the report added.
The Nigerian police and the Buhari presidency had categorised the protest as treasonable felony and warned the organisers to abandon the venture but lawyers and activists disagreed, saying that street protest cannot be regarded as treason
