Recently, protests have been taking place almost daily around the Central Business District, Abuja. The protesters’ demand seems clear: President Tinubu should investigate the various oil deals and ‘bungled’ refinery repairs under the watch of Mele Kyari, who, until earlier this month, led the state-run oil firm NNPC. The protesters, to use the media parlance, “stormed” the Federal Ministry of Justice last week and then the Ministry of Finance on April 29, 2025. The protesters also marched to the EFCC. The commission’s spokesman, Dele Oyewale, who reportedly received their petition on behalf of the chairman, said the commission will look into the allegations raised. Some generous newspapers humanised the protesters as a “group of lawyers.” Not hoodlums!

These protests, which often bring out heavy crowds, colourful placards and traffic disruption, align with the government’s sentiments. Therefore, the police have incentives to look away. Since the protests by various shadowy groups started, police have not unleashed an assortment of teargas, much less killed anyone. No one was arrested. No religious clerics have been commissioned to run dubious sermons about how “protest is haram.” No party elder took to television in a baritone voice, explaining the ‘sinister motives’ of the protesters.

Each passing day, the protesters not only demonstrate freely in compliance with the Constitution, but they also get free access to key government institutions. The police inspector-general did not summon a press conference inviting the “Probe Mele Kyari” protesters to present their leaders. FCT police did not deploy “adequate number of personnel and operational assets for public safety and orderliness.” People in FCT have yet to experience surreptitious disruption of mobile internet as the protests continue. No group had yet taken to television to announce that they are pulling out of the protest that, in the first place, they did not coordinate.

Contrast this with August 2024 when the police summarily killed 24 unarmed civilians in Borno, Jigawa, Kano, Kaduna and Niger for protesting against rising hunger, corruption and general economic hardship. Children who joined the protest were arrested. While in detention, they were allegedly denied food and medical care. The whole world was horrified when they emerged in court looking famished. A government lawyer called those minors ‘adults’ so that the violation of their rights could be justified. The lawyer even claimed the minors were married with children. Even those who supported the August 2024 protests on social media were intimidated.

Two months later, in October, a young man was killed at Rijiyar Lemo neighbourhood of Kano. People watched bullets pierce the skull of a prospective bride a month before her wedding. In total, 12 people were killed in Kano. Right at the gate of the Jigawa State Government House, young men were killed. Hamza Naziru, a 15-year-old boy, is still recovering from gunshot wounds. He may need more than one surgery to restore the full use of his hand. 

Last month, journalists were violently attacked by the police while covering a protest in Port Harcourt. Those assaulted by the police were Charles Opurum of Channels TV, Allwell Ene of Naija FM, Soibelemari Oruwari of Nigeria Info, Ikezam Godswill of AIT, and Femi Ogunkhilede of Super FM. They were not protesters. They faced this hostility because they were there to do their job. The protest was against bad governance and vicious attacks on freedom of expression through the draconian Cybercrimes Act.

The protesters against hunger, corruption, and repression in August, October, and April faced myriad hostilities. Apart from calling them names, not a single evidence has been provided to justify the horrific attacks they faced.

There is nothing wrong with peaceful protests. People have the right to take to the streets and seek change peacefully. Why are protests for freedom and pushback against oppression attacked and the citizens maligned?

If we go by current reality, Protest is only haram when it’s about fighting for justice and asking the powerful people in authority to abandon their crass obsession with ‘primitive accumulation.’

⁠Isa Sanusi is the Nigerian director at Amnesty International