The #IStandWithNigeria Protest in Lagos
Hello!
So, February 2017 has been fun so far. I participated in my first ever protest on the 6th, and it was a lot of fun. I felt like a patriot, you know, like a real activist.
I could go on and on about the shambles our country and the economy is in and why I felt as though I had to march, but I don't want to babble, so I've highlighted my favourite parts of the protest below:
1. Showing up at the venue (the National Stadium -- which was built in 1972 and is by now dilapidated, which is why the organisers chose that venue as the starting point; a national gem that has been, like the rest of the country, left to suffer). So yes, showing up at the venue, seeing a hundred or so officers, mobile police mounted on horses and the heavily armed counter-terrorism unit, and wanting to turn around and go back home because me, I don't want to die.
2. The crowd began to thicken in the foregrounds of the stadium and we started drawing up placards on cardboard with markers, writing signs about the power situation, the increase in prices of commodities, unemployment... and I legit wanted to cry, because I felt a part of something so huge and so important, something beyond myself.
3. Seeing Seyi Law and Charly Boy show up at the protest because Tuface (and we still do not really know why) backed out at the last minute. The march was never about an individual, but seeing those celebrities come was encouraging, and low key (because I'm always all up in my emotions) I think they came out on behalf of Tuface, as though to represent him (and themselves, of course).
4. Marching towards the theater with a van blasting jams by Fela, Tuface and African China, and the more we marched through neighbourhoods, the more people joined the protest, voices rising high with one declaration linking us together: Enough is Enough.
5. Marching in through the gates of the National Theater, our destination, and another national structure left to rot and fend for itself; another reminder that we need to speak up and hold our leaders accountable for the state of the nation.
I can't wait to march again. And again and again.
- Ibiene
So, February 2017 has been fun so far. I participated in my first ever protest on the 6th, and it was a lot of fun. I felt like a patriot, you know, like a real activist.
I could go on and on about the shambles our country and the economy is in and why I felt as though I had to march, but I don't want to babble, so I've highlighted my favourite parts of the protest below:
1. Showing up at the venue (the National Stadium -- which was built in 1972 and is by now dilapidated, which is why the organisers chose that venue as the starting point; a national gem that has been, like the rest of the country, left to suffer). So yes, showing up at the venue, seeing a hundred or so officers, mobile police mounted on horses and the heavily armed counter-terrorism unit, and wanting to turn around and go back home because me, I don't want to die.
2. The crowd began to thicken in the foregrounds of the stadium and we started drawing up placards on cardboard with markers, writing signs about the power situation, the increase in prices of commodities, unemployment... and I legit wanted to cry, because I felt a part of something so huge and so important, something beyond myself.
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| Credit: Enough Is Enough Nigeria |
3. Seeing Seyi Law and Charly Boy show up at the protest because Tuface (and we still do not really know why) backed out at the last minute. The march was never about an individual, but seeing those celebrities come was encouraging, and low key (because I'm always all up in my emotions) I think they came out on behalf of Tuface, as though to represent him (and themselves, of course).
4. Marching towards the theater with a van blasting jams by Fela, Tuface and African China, and the more we marched through neighbourhoods, the more people joined the protest, voices rising high with one declaration linking us together: Enough is Enough.
5. Marching in through the gates of the National Theater, our destination, and another national structure left to rot and fend for itself; another reminder that we need to speak up and hold our leaders accountable for the state of the nation.
I can't wait to march again. And again and again.
- Ibiene
Nice post about "THE #ISTANDWITHNIGERIA PROTEST IN LAGOS"
ReplyDeletethanks,
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waoo well written post about THE #ISTANDWITHNIGERIA PROTEST IN LAGOS
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