Social Media Bill: Plan for a massive 'Occupy Nigeria Season II' protest is gathering momentum

The very moment Nigeria's Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said no amount of attacks or outrage will stop the Federal Government’s determination to clamp down on purveyors of fake news and hate speech, it became clear that the Buhari administration, indeed, means business.



More troubling, is the fact that representatives of the masses at the National Assembly, have expressed readiness to "approve all requests" coming from the president as previously disclosed by Senate President Ahmed Lawan. It is therefore, no longer about representing the masses anymore.


If the nation's three arms of government are now under the control of the Executive, the masses are left with nothing but to take matters into their own hands since there is no one to check government’s excesses.

As things currently stand, only a miracle can stop the duo of Social Media and Hate Speech Bills respectively, from being passed by the Senate. And in Lai Mohammed's own words, "There's nothing anyone can do about it."




However, the arrogance of the Buhari administration is believed to be spurred by the fact that the current government is yet to witness something as massive as what brought Jonathan's administration to its knees during the 'Occupy Nigeria' era. Ironically, Buhari himself was part of that movement!


Since what they say is good for the Goose, is also good for the Gander, the Buhari administration which has been described as the worst ever since 1999, has been told to expect something much bigger than the last Occupy Nigeria protest.

The last attempt to send a strong message to the Buhari administration that governance is about the people, failed woefully following arrests and attacks on protesters. That one was tagged "RevolutionNow" movement.



But, the failure of RevolutionNow didn't stop a group of courageous Nigerians from mobilizing a more powerful movement with the tag, "Occupy Nigeria Season II".

The group under the aegis of 'Leadership and Accountability Initiative (LAI), said via its Head, Nwazuruahu Henry Shield, that the reason the Buhari administration feels invisible and unaccountable to the masses is because there hasn't been a single protest against them since 2015 with up to 10,000 people. The group's leader however, said this is about to change.

They feel invisible and unaccountable to the masses because there’s not been a single protest against them since 2015 with up to 10,000 people.

We will show you that 100,000 is easy to mobilize and 1m isn’t a hard task. #OccupyNigeriaSeasonII

— Henry Shield (@henryshield) November 23, 2019

He said via a tweet, "They feel invisible and unaccountable to the masses because there’s not been a single protest against them since 2015 with up to 10,000 people. We will show you that 100,000 is easy to mobilize and 1m isn’t a hard task. #OccupyNigeriaSeasonII."



The last protest organized by Sowore may not have ended well, however, the fact that there are still Nigerians determined to stage another, shows the masses have indeed, lost patience.