Tope Tomekun, a Lawyer has shared his experience about Saturday’s June 12 protests against bad governance in Nigeria.
Tomekun who joined protesters in Akure, the Ondo state capital, while sharing his experience on his Facebook profile, affirmed that “protest only becomes violent when the government wants it to be violent.”
He however commended the maturity displayed by men of the Ondo state police command, and other security operatives.
Read below his experience about the protest:
I have left the barricade.
I testify today to the fact that protest only becomes violent when the government wants it to be violent. Today’s protest in Akure started at the Stadium Junction, with a march through the Erekesan market, to the Police A Division, where we stopped to address the people, continued to the State High Court, where we also stopped to address the people, to the NEPA roundabout where we formed a cycle to address the people, through to Arakale, to end in Cathedral roundabout.
All through the protest, police were passing on surveillance, Civil Defence were roaming, the Amotekun corps, were blairing to and fro, but no single act of provocation on both sides.
May I sincerely commend the maturity of the Ondo State Commissioner of Police who didn’t unleash the usual unprovoked barbarism on the Akure peaceful protesters today and that of the Ondo state government for yielding to the forced recognition of right to peaceful protest, which was evidenced in the peaceful nature of the protest. If the government had decided to be intolerant, it would show in the manners of engagement of the law enforcement agents and that would have resulted in great loss on both sides. If one single cannister had been fired, the protest would have degenerated.
We went in peace, we came back in peace!
We will continue to use our voice to say our say and they won’t have their way for too long. The tyranny will soon expire. In my lifetime, we will witness a better country, a society where we will live together in abundance, in peace and in love.
In Solidarity,
Tope Temokun
June 12, 2021.
11:30am.
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