Nigerian activist, Omoyele Sowore has said that his generation may be the last generation that will use peaceful protests in solving the problems of the country.
Sowore has said that the present day generation which is carrying placards to express their displeasure in the government may the the very last set to do so. According to him, many people have continued to tell peaceful protesters that their way of protesting is becoming outdated.
The former presidential candidate stated he doesn’t subscribe to arms, however, the government sometimes pushes citizens to engaging in unpeaceful means of liberating themselves.
While speaking at a symposium titled “Omoyele Sowore and The Struggle For Social Justice In Nigeria,” held in honour of him as he clocked 50 years on Tuesday in Abuja, he charged his supporters saying that they can use their intelligence as the present day Government isn’t worth the use of force.
In his words;
He said, “I say all the time that those of us who are pushing through peaceful means of rebelling against the system, we are being told by several others who are running out of options that our system will soon become archaic. And the next set of people may not be carrying placards. We might be the last set of people who are going to carry placards to solve Nigeria’s problems.
“I am not subscribed to arms struggle but sometimes it is the state which pushes its citizens to engage in other means of achieving liberation because of its irresponsibility.
“But we have a moral upper hand and these people are not worth the force of arms. We can kick them out using intelligence which we know is the easiest way and I don’t want to spill anybody’s blood to achieve this. It just takes some two million young people to say, enough is enough.”
Sowore also cited examples of countries in which civil disobedience brought about a change in regime.
“I am more on the side of civil disobedience. Civil disobedience brought an end to the regime that was unpopular. It happened in Egypt, Tunisia, and Belarus. In the last 10 years, there have been more revolutions around the world.
“You heard about Sudan? Their struggle was started by women and professionals. How I understand best is putting feet on the ground and engaging in constant protests. How I understand best is uprising and revolution that will turn things around for us in this country for good.”
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