Journalist and activist, Agba Jalingo, who was released in February 2020 after spending 174 days in detention in both the police cell and Calabar prison, has been arrested for participating in the #RevolutionNow protest in Lagos State on Wednesday.
WuzupNigeria reports that protesters under the aegis of the #RevolutionNow movement stormed the under-bridge area of Ikeja this morning to protest on the deplorable state of the country.
The participants, involving the youths, old men and women, carried placards and chanted solidarity songs as they repeatedly turned around the roundabout located under the bridge opposite the computer village in Ikeja.
During the protest, which reportedly lasted for hours, men of the state police command, who were said to have laid a siege at the Allen roundabout, suddenly advanced toward the direction of the protesters and released teargas canisters to disperse the protesters.
The protesters led by Jalingo, Femi Adeyeye, and others regrouped at Ikeja Along to continue the protest after they were dispersed at Ikeja Under Bridge.
An eyewitness, simply identified as Rasak, said some of the protesters ran into the computer village while the policemen chased them.
He added that one of the protesters was arrested in the process.
He said,
“The arrested protester while inside the police patrol vehicle was lamenting the bad condition of the country and complained that he has a family at home but could feed them because there was no job in the country.
“The protest took place under the bridge. The protesters wanted to move toward the Allen roundabout but refused to do so when they realised that the police had planned to intercept them at Allen. So, instead of going to Allen, they started turning around the roundabout under the Ikeja bridge.
“When the police realised that the protesters were not coming toward their direction, they closed in on them and sprayed teargas to disperse them. In the process, some of the protesters ran into the computer village and the policemen gave them a hot chase and arrested some of them.”
WuzupNigeria gathered that Agba Jalingo was arrested alongside 18 other protesters by the Lagos State Police Command in the Ikeja area of Lagos.
“He left his phone with me and went to protest in Ikeja. He has been arrested by the police. I am his driver, he was with those protesting during the #RevolutionNow protest. I am currently on my way to the Area F Police Division in Ikeja,” Agba Jalingo’s driver, Clement Laruba, said when a call was put to the activist’s phone.
“The protest started around 9am but I stayed where the car was parked while he left for the protest. But he later called me with someone’s number to inform me that he has been arrested.”
While Femi Adeyeye, a student union activist who was suspended by UNILAG’s disciplinary panel for exposing the unpleasant academic condition of the school to the public, was addressing the crowd, the Lagos State Task Force stormed the venue and arrested them.
Others arrested include; Omolara Alagbala, Kelly Orodu, Kolawole Adenekan, Fela Samson Okafor, Akinnubi Margaret, Orunsolu Oluremi (Remyte goonz), Oyebiyi Ademola, Oyebiyi Ademola, Owatunde, Akinnubi Deborah, Akinnubi Margaret, Akinnubi Emmanuel, Kehinde Babatunde Joseph, Adedoyin Olorunshola Truth, Rachael Ochuwa, Adeyeye Femi, Babatunde Famutimi, A king bade Olamide, Nonike Okechukwu, Sodiq Ogunshola.
They were all transported and detained at Area “F” Police Station in Ikeja, Lagos.
In viral footage, Jalingo, while leading some of the protesters along the axis, was heard saying,
“No matter how they arrest us, no matter how they chase us, we will not be afraid of their Black Marias, we will not be afraid of their rifles and teargas, we will continue to sing and shout until the day we see a new Nigeria.”
