Nigeria: Police throw tear gas at ‘Democracy Day’ protests Muhammadu Buhari News

National protests were called for poor governance, insecurity and a recent ban on Twitter, among other things.

Nigerian police have thrown tear gas in Lagos and the capital Abuja to disperse anti-government protesters, reporting arrests and injuries.

Nigerian activists called for nationwide protests on Saturday over criticism of poor governance and insecurity, even recently. Twitter ban Government of President Muhammadu Buhari.

There were also pockets of protest in Ibadan, Osogbon, Abeokutan and Akure, all in southwestern Nigeria.

The protests were the first to take place in several cities at once #EndSARS anti-police brutality movement in October they became the largest rallies against the government in modern Nigerian history.

Hundreds of protesters gathered in Lagos on Saturday, a vast megalopolis of more than 20 million people, and police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. Demonstrators carried banners and posters saying “We must go to Buhari” to demand reforms.

In Abuja, a similar scenario occurred when protesters gathered at 7am (06:00 GMT).

A group of police and the army broke up the crowd using tear gas, a reporter from the AFP news agency said at the scene, adding that security forces had harassed some journalists.

Police said the protests were unauthorized and AFP reporters said they had seen several people arrested.

“We can’t go on like this … all bad governance must be stopped,” protester Samson Okafor said in Lagos, where tear gas canisters erupted in the street as police shouted for protesters to leave the scene.

Authorities saw the confiscated mobile phones of protesters broken, and some of them criticized the government’s decision to suspend access to Twitter after social media platforms removed a message from President Buhari.

Demonstrators carry placards and banners during a demonstration on August 12 on Democracy Day in Abuja [Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters]

Buhari, a former general who was first elected in 2015, has come under pressure from Africa’s most populous nation due to insecurity in the lives of more than 200 million people.

Security forces are fighting an armed uprising in the northeast, mass kidnappings and attacks by criminal gangs are on the rise in the northwest and rising separatist tensions in the southeast.

The government also sparked a outcry a week ago when Twitter permanently suspended the country, saying the platform was used for activities aimed at destabilizing Nigeria.

Saturday’s demonstrations were called to coincide with “Democracy Day” on the anniversary of the 1993 election of Moshood Kashimawo Abiola as President of Nigeria.

Abiola’s victory was overturned by the then military government, plunging Nigeria into months of civil unrest.

Nigeria returned to civilian government in May 1999, but Buhari chose June 12 as Democracy Day to pay tribute to Abiola and other fighting heroes after he became president.