The recent 10-day nationwide protest in Nigeria, organized under the “EndBadGovernance” banner, aimed to address numerous systemic issues within the country. Activists like Omoyele Sowore highlighted demands including scrapping the 1999 constitution, reinstating the fuel subsidy, reducing lawmakers’ salaries, and tackling corruption and insecurity.
President Bola Tinubu called for the suspension of the protests, encouraging dialogue while warning against ethnic bigotry. Meanwhile, Senator Adams Oshiomhole downplayed the protest’s significance, suggesting that the current administration is addressing economic challenges and dismissing the organizers, particularly Sowore, as not representative of the broader populace.
Constitutional lawyer Deji Adeyanju described the protest as successful in drawing government attention to key issues, although he criticized Tinubu’s sincerity and the heavy-handed approach of the government, which involved arresting over 1,300 protesters. Adeyanju emphasized the importance of ongoing protest as long as issues like hunger, insecurity, and unemployment remain unresolved.