A group called the City Boy Movement has said it has video evidence of protesters who stormed its headquarters in Abuja on Friday. They demanded President Bola Tinubu resign due to the country's worsening insecurity.
The group, which supports President Tinubu's second term, plans to send the footage to security and law enforcement agencies as proof against the protesters.
O’Tega Ogra, the Deputy Director-General, shared this information in a statement on Friday. He said they will pursue the matter until justice is served.
"The City Boy Movement wishes to be very clear about something else. In video footage from today’s incident, one of the individuals present was heard calling for our property to be set on fire. That is not protest. That is a threat of arson.
"The footage has been preserved and will be made available to the relevant security and law enforcement agencies. Anyone involved should be in no doubt: we will pursue this matter to the fullest extent of the law," he stated.
Earlier on Friday, protesters occupied the City Boy Movement headquarters to express their anger over rising insecurity and economic hardship in Nigeria.
This protest was part of a larger action announced by a coalition of civil society organizations, trade unions, youth groups, faith-based organizations, and social movements. They had declared June 12 as a day for mass action.
Similar protests were reported in Lagos and other areas, where demonstrators called for immediate government measures to tackle insecurity or for President Tinubu to resign.
However, video clips that went viral showed some protesters throwing stones and other objects at the City Boy Movement building. Others chanted solidarity songs and held placards.
The City Boy Movement is a political group that backs the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and supports President Tinubu’s re-election campaign. They have branches in various states for political mobilization.
Ogra acknowledged the country's growing security challenges but claimed the Tinubu administration is working to solve them. He referred to the president’s Democracy Day speech, where he urged bandits to surrender, and the recent sentencing of those behind the Owo church attack as proof of the government's efforts to tackle insecurity.
He stated that the protesters at the movement’s headquarters ignored these efforts and were engaging in politics instead of genuine advocacy.
"So when people show up at our gate, on a day like this, pretending nothing is being done, we know exactly what we are looking at. That is not concern. That is politics. And bad politics at that," he explained.
The deputy director-general also said that the protest was not peaceful.
"Your right to peaceful protest is guaranteed. Nobody disputes that. But what happened today was not peaceful in any meaningful sense. And even where protest is peaceful, that right does not give anyone the license to threaten others, obstruct their work, invade their space, or attempt to disenfranchise fellow Nigerians from freely associating with a political movement of their choice.
"Your right to protest does not cancel another citizen’s right to participate. Your right to speak does not include the right to silence others. Your right to assemble does not include the right to intimidate those who disagree with you," he added.
Ogra said the movement will not let anyone use the suffering and insecurity of Nigerians as a political weapon against the government.
"There is a difference between protest and provocation, between advocacy and ambush, and an even larger difference between demanding security and weaponizing insecurity for politics. We will not allow anyone to use the pain of Nigerians as a mask for political blackmail.
"We say this especially to young Nigerians: be careful. Do not allow yourselves to be used by people who do not care about your pain, your safety, your future, or your country. The people who send others to cause trouble often sit safely somewhere else. It is ordinary young people who end up bearing the consequences. Do not let them use you.
"Some people have chosen to refuse to see what this government is doing. That is their right, and their business. But we will not be drawn into their pessimism about the future of a country that is on the right track under President Tinubu. We have work to do, and we will do it," he concluded.
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