The Take It Back Movement, along with several other groups, staged a peaceful protest on Monday to highlight the struggling state of the economy in Ibadan, Oyo State.
The protesters, largely composed of members of the African Action Congress (AAC), faced a heavy presence of security personnel who were deployed to prevent any potential breakdown of law and order.
Beginning in the early hours of the day, the demonstration started at the Iwo Road end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
The participants sang solidarity songs while voicing their concerns about the current economic situation in the country.
Comrade Dimeji Salako, the State Coordinator of the Take It Back Movement, stated that the purpose of the protest was to express their dissatisfaction with legislation that he claimed aims to silence the populace.
“The essence of this protest, just as we have announced over the weeks is to repel the Cybercrime Act. Just as you are aware, the Cybercrime Act was enacted into law by the National government through the National Assembly to fight against terrorism around the Cyberspace or any other cyber-related criminal activities like internet fraud, cyberstalking and others.
“But, what we have noticed overtime is that the Nigerian government and the Nigerian Police have overturned that law to fight against the people. They have overturned the law to oppress and harass dissenting voices, activists, oppositions and including journalists.
“So, we have come outside today to say, enough is enough. President Tinubu and the Nigerian authorities cannot turn Nigeria into North Korea where the government are the ones censoring what people will say on the internet or any other space.
“No man born of a woman has the right to dictate what we will say as Nigerians because it is our fundamental human right to freedom of speech and expression.
“President Tinubu and the Police cannot beat a child and also dictate how the child will cry. If they do not want people to speak against them, then they should do the needful, end bad governance, give us good governance, then nobody will have the time to speaks against the government when everything is good.”
Also in his address, the state Chairman of AAC, Comrade Kayode Babayomi said the protesters, mostly youths are not pleased with the Act as it is sending people to jail needlessly because they choose to express themselves online.
He said, “Nigerians, mostly youths tropped out to express their displeasure on the various restrictive laws that the Federal Government just introduced. These laws are so restrictive that the government will arrest anyone that speak ill of the government.
“We are outside this morning to protest the evil Cybercrime Act, which is a weapon, instead of protecting Nigerians, it is been used to silence critics, jail journalists and criminalises free speech, we can’t afford to stay silence. We are here this morning to call for the repealing of the Cybercrime Act which violates human rights.
“Section 24 of this Act also criminalises insulting someone online which means if you counter or criticise a politician, and he feels offended, you could go to jail just for a Facebook post. For just because of an ordinary WhatsApp content, journalists are been arrested, protesters are jailed, activists are been silenced, all because of this badly written law.
“The Cybercrime Act must be reformed, that is why we are out this morning to say we are standing on our feet and toes to ensure that this Act is repealed. Nobody is free from the Act. Today it is journalist, tomorrow it could be anyone else.
“The evil Act is to ensure that the voice of the Nigerian people are silent and not being heard. The Act gags against the wishful right of people to express themselves in a conformed way against the government or any politician or any well-conducted individuals.
“That is why we are out to ensure that people don’t continue to languish in jail, and just for them to be continually arrested, just because they expressed themselves online.
“There’s nothing wrong in insulting anyone, if I insult you, you insult me back. Nobody under the law has a right to tell the other how he should express himself. No law should tell me how to address a certain situation. No law should criminalises how people express themselves. Nobody under the law should tell us how to express our grievances and that is why we are out to say no to the Cybercrime Act.
“As far as Take it Back Movement is concerned, we know the number of people we have saved from going to jail just for expressing themselves and reacting to issues freely.”
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