Rights activist and Convener of Concerned Nigerians, Deji Adeyanju, in this interview, discusses the issues around the proposed October 1 protests, warning that the government may likely use force against protesters again. Adeyanju also urges Nigerians not to be discouraged in the face of maladministration.

Given how the recent #EndBadGovernance protests ended, especially the role the government played, it is not clear if the proposed October 1 protests would take place…

After the last protests, they increased fuel prices to about N1,000 because people didn’t have the guts to come out fully. If people fail to participate fully this time, only God knows if they won’t increase fuel prices after these protests. Whatever Nigerians see, let them take it. If at this stage we are still trying to encourage people to come out and see the need to protest, everybody should stay in his or her house and eat jollof rice on that day. I have gone beyond the stage of worrying more than the people who are supposed to be worried. If people do not want to come out, they should stay in their houses and enjoy themselves.

After all, ‘T-pain’ is making sure everyone has enough to worry about. However, it is truly expected that Nigerians should come out and show that the country belongs to them, not the leaders. There is nothing the leaders find scary about what the country is experiencing. They are not worried about the economy, the leadership structure and other things that are not right. The reason things are falling apart is because the citizens have refused to be active. That is why the leaders are having a field day.

Are you insinuating that the outcome of the last protests made the government to further increase petrol price without considering its impacts on an already impoverished populace?

It is because they are taking the citizens for a ride. If not, why would anyone, in his right senses, consider increasing fuel price after the last protests, which were aimed at ending bad governance? They felt that Nigerians are toothless bulldogs, who cannot do anything if they increased fuel price. They are convinced that the citizens cannot do anything. They are convinced that no matter what they do, there would be no repercussions for their actions. It is a simple analysis.

Do you foresee government using security agencies to suppress the looming protests just the way it happened last time?

I am not optimistic that people would come out en masse this time because the Nigerian situation doesn’t give any room for optimism. Nigerians accept any wrong attitude from government. Nigerians don’t like standing up for their rights. And it is not a recent thing. It has always been like that. Nigerians are people who prefer to go to beer parlour and drink instead of facing their fears. They rather weep and cry over their sorrows instead of confronting their sorrows and fears. That is why there is so much maladministration and balkanization of the economy by supposed leaders.

With this atmosphere of fear among the citizenry, what kind of push do you think they need to participate in the October 1 protests?

I think people should be sensitized by the level of hunger in the land. Hunger should be the greatest sensitisation for the citizens in the country. I don’t think there is any other thing that should make the people not be scared to protest. Is the fuel price increment not enough to sensitise the people? What else do they need? Is the economic crisis not enough to sensitise them?

What about if the suppression of the right to protest happens again?

Nigerian government will not cease to amaze everyone of us. If anyone thinks they will not try to quell the protests violently or they will not try to use the same tactics that were used last time, one has to sincerely think again. I think they may want to be more vicious this time more than the last time. This a government that arraigns protesters and trivialises the charge of treason. What else can anyone expect from it? They will always display childish and unimaginable cowardice. People should generally expect that.

Even if these protests hold, there are fears that they may not achieve any purpose given the history of protests in Nigeria. In view of this, what other approach do you think citizens can employ in making government appreciate the depth of hardship in the country?

I think citizens need to increase the volume of their protests. It will make government realise how bad things are. They have to stand up for their rights.

Some people who participated in the last protests are still being detained. Government even charged them with treason. On October 1 people are still going to protest against bad governance…

People shouldn’t be deterred because of those who were arrested for protesting and are still being detained. What happened was just the typical style of this regime. If people stay away from the protests because of arrest, government would triumph in the end. People shouldn’t give in. They should be courageous.

You are involved in the legal processes of detained protesters who are being tried for treason, and some were released in two batches recently. Does that mean that they would be released in piecemeal format or…?

The criminalisation of protest by government is a clear violation of the Constitution. A government that has done this doesn’t care about the people. And they are deliberately doing it so that people will not demand for their fundamental rights. We must not capitulate because of their pressure and threat.

Is it possible to put a figure to the number of detained protesters behind bars?

We can tell you that over 1, 000 people are still held in various prisons across the country. We are currently working with branches of Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, holistically to ensure people are released. A lot is going on in all the states. In Kano, which has a volume of detainees, we are working to get them released. We are doing so in all the states where protesters are being held for exercising their fundamental human rights. We have detainees in Zamfara, Sokoto, Kaduna, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, and other places. We are doing this alongside other stakeholders.

President Tinubu promised to reach out to those behind the #EndBadGovernance protests and listen to their grievances in order to put things right. Has he done that?

This administration is not a serious administration. Taking the leadership of this administration seriously is just a waste of time. The President has no plan to reach out to protesters. His goal was to quell the protests and also criminalise protests in the country. Nobody in government has reached out to anybody as promised and we know that nobody would attempt it.

In assessing the last protests, it was discovered that the inability of Nigerians to sustain the tempo of such action was responsible for the outcome. That this happened at a time when Kenyans were able to sustain theirs and got a favourable outcome leaves many saddened. What can you say about this?

Nigerians just have to be there for themselves. They have to surmount the odds. Our situation, as bad as it is now, is not as terrible as the US situation at the time. The US, other developed countries and some Third World countries have come out of the woods. If we persevere and confront our fears, I believe we must also be able to come out of the woods.

Last time, you said the organisers of the protests were hunger and hardship. Are these factors you identified still the organisers of the October 1 protests?

Of course yes. They have even increased. Petrol price increment has added to the number of organisers. There is also hunger, inflation, corruption and unemployment among others.

The President recently came out to acknowledge the hardship in the land, but insisted that his reforms are needed to keep the country going…

What reforms was he referring to? Is it the reforms to buy a new presidential jet when there is hardship in the land? A huge amount of money was recently spent on his convoy. Is that the reforms he is talking about? Does he feel the pain of hunger Nigerians are feeling? Someone who feels our pains won’t be involved in buying a presidential jet worth N150 billion at a time like this. He doesn’t know what is going on in the country. This administration can’t appreciate what Nigerians are going through.