Human rights activist and convener of #RevolutionNow Movement, Omoyele Sowore, has reaffirmed the scheduled second phase of the nationwide protests against acute hunger, poverty and bad governance under President Bola Tinubu’s administration tagged #FearlessInOctober.
Sowore, a former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) party, said the protests should not be regarded as only meant for Generation Z (Gen Z), but for all ages.
Generation Z refers to people born between 1996 and 2010. They are also known as Zoomers. They are the second-youngest generation, between millennials and Generation Alpha.
According to Sowore, the movement is championed by Nigerians of all ages who are fed up with bad governance in Nigeria, and in extension, Africa, noting that their flag will be “A New Pan-Africanism”.
He stressed that only if Africans unite will they be able to earn a place in global prosperity, hence, Nigerians need to rise against bad governance on October 1 when the country marks its Independence Day.
He said, “But don’t call it a Generation Z protest, rather from A to Z. The movement is animated by Nigerians of all ages, who are fed up with bad governance.
“Only if Africans unite will they be able to earn a place in global prosperity.”
He said the protests will be in October because “it’s a significant month for a number of reasons”.
He said, “There’s the anniversary of “their” independence, which Nigerians have not yet truly won, and also that of #EndSARS, the movement that denounces the abuses and blackmail against defenseless citizens committed by the police of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad at dawn on October 20, 2020.
“After days of marches, soldiers shot at participants in a sit-in in Lagos to enforce a curfew order. According to a local commission of inquiry, there were at least 48 victims: young people who denounced bad governance.”
The first phase of the protests took place nationwide from August 1-10, during and following which Nigerian authorities arrested several people for their alleged roles in the demonstrations.
The authorities have held several protesters in prison and charged them with treason.
However, Sowore has continued to encourage Nigerians, especially the youths not to surrender to the government’s brutality and hostility meant to silence and keep them in perpetual bondage.