Protests: Nigeria Must Not Allow Derailment Of Its Democracy, Says Falana

A human rights lawyer Femi Falana has condemned attempts to cause anarchy in the country in the wake of the #EndBadGovernance protests, saying Nigeria must not allow some persons to derail its democratic process.

The rallies started on August 1 and had largely gone on peacefully. However, there was destruction and looting in some parts of the north after the initial demonstrations. Some protesters were spotted waving the Russian flag in a development that has caused concerns.

In the wake of the incident, Falana has tasked authorities to defend Nigeria’s democracy.

“Some of us were also involved in the struggle for the democratisation, as it were of a number of African countries who were involved in the struggle against apartheid in the struggle against colonialism in the Southern African region,” the human rights lawyer said on Tuesday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today.

“Currently, I’m personally involved in the campaign against the colonisation of Western Sahara by Morocco. So to that extent, we cannot fold our arms and allow undemocratic forces to undermine the democratic process.

“We are bound to have a peaceful protest. We are bound to disagree with those who are in power. We are bound to condemn the denial of the dividends of democracy to our people. But peaceful protests should not be allowed to degenerate into a situation whereby forces of repression will take advantage to begin to demand an unconstitutional change of government or campaign for military rule in one form or the other.”

‘Lot of Lessons’
He admitted that the country is facing issues which may have triggered the protests.

But he said, “we must not allow enemies of democracy to delay the democratic process”.

Falana blamed the calls for military rule, recalling how the nation fought against dictatorship.

“We’ve had uninterrupted civil rule for 25 years. So, you can imagine that those who are 40 years now, were probably 15 when the military was forced out of power,” the legal practitioner said.

“So, for those who are under 40 in Nigeria – and the majority are – they have not been told, they have not been taught in any school what Nigerians went through under all manners of military dictators ditto for the Civil War because the issue of the Civil War has not been taught in our schools. Many young people are calling for a war in many parts of the country. So, I think a lot of lessons should be drawn from this experience.”