Security operatives ranging from civil defense, police officers and others have barricaded the gate of National Assembly to prevent nation wide protesters from gaining access to National Assembly premises where president Bola Tinubu is supposed to address a joint section of the National Assembly.
The protest, piloted by many civil society Organisation, including Take It Back Movement and is part of nationwide protest against poor leadership in Nigeria billed to take place on June 12, Nigeria’s Democracy Day.
Those behind the protest said is a platform to public register their people grievances against what they describe as “two years of misrule, hardship, and insecurity” under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
The protesters had moved the demonstration to the national assembly, where President Bola Tinubu is expected to address a joint session of the National Assembly as part of the Democracy Day celebrations.
Speaking on the eve of the protest, the National Coordinator of the Take It Back Movement, Juwon Sanyaolu, said the decision to converge at the National Assembly did not change the focus of the protest.
“That we earlier said the protest would hold at Eagle Square doesn’t foreclose the fact that Nigerians cannot organise themselves at the National Assembly to protest the two years of misrule under Tinubu.
“The unprecedented hardship and insecurity we have experienced under his government are alarming. So Nigerians will be turning out nationwide to protest against this, and the National Assembly is one of those spaces Nigerians can exercise their constitutional rights. We are encouraging Nigerians to move there in their numbers tomorrow,”he said.
Available reports from the venue shows a heavy presence of security personnel, including operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and armed police officers, stationed at the National Assembly gate.
The entrance was also reinforced with iron barricades as well as a long truck, preventing access to the premises.