Angry Nigerians rally against poverty, insecurity on Democracy Day

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Nigeria’s commercial capital on Friday to mark Democracy Day, utlising the public anniversary to protest rising living costs and crumbling security.

Protesters assembled in Lagos, carrying placards and chanting slogans that called on the government to address economic hardship, unemployment and what they described as a failure of the country’s democratic system to deliver meaningful improvement to its citizens.

Democracy Day honors the June 12, 1993 presidential election widely regarded as the country’s freest and fairest vote and won by the late pro-democracy figure Moshood Abiola.

It marks the country’s return to civilian rule and serves as a reminder of the struggle against military dictatorship.

The protest was part of a broader nationwide action organized by civil society groups and activists who said many Nigerians have seen little benefit from more than two decades of uninterrupted democratic rule.

In a Democracy Day address, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu called for national unity and urged Nigerians to continue believing in the country’s democratic institutions despite ongoing challenges.

Nigeria has experienced its longest uninterrupted period of democratic governance since the end of military rule in 1999, but public frustration has grown in recent years as households grapple with soaring costs.

The West African nation also suffers a complex, multi-layered crisis in which two distinct categories of armed groups are operating.

On one hand are Islamist groups like Boko Haram and its splinter group, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and on the several amorphous groups popularly called “bandits” specialising in kidnapping for ramsom.