The August Protests’ programme showed videos of protesters who converged across states and were unanimous in their statements that hunger and hardship in Nigeria were their motivations for the mass action.
In Abuja, protesters gathered with placards reading ‘Endbadgovernance’, ‘Enough is Enough’, ‘Endhunger’, and ‘Nigerians are ready for New Naija.’
The protesters are demanding a reduction in food inflation, which stood at 40.87 per cent in June 2024, a reversal of electricity tariff hikes and ten other demands.
An activist lawyer, Deji Adeyanju, at the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja, said protests have been peaceful so far.
Speaking on the protest, Samson Itodo, the Executive Director of Yiaga, said the demands of the protesters align with the pains of everyone.
He noted that the majority of Nigerians are hungry. According to him, the protest symbolises the need to address the challenges facing Nigeria as a country.
This is as the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, NECA, Adewale Oyerinde, spoke on the need for the protest to be peaceful. Osun state, streets in Osogbo, the State capital were largely deserted, just as participants in the end hunger protest began a procession from Freedom Park Area.
Meanwhile, in the major southeast states, Imo, Ebonyi, Abia, and other states, there are no protesters at the designated venues,
Recall that in October 2020, the #EndSARS protest started peacefully but ended on a bad note, with properties destroyed across the country.