Some residents of Rivers State have described the planned June 12 protest over worsening insecurity and economic hardship by the Take-It-Back Movement as an effort infertility. According to them, several protests like the end SARS movement did not yield anything tangible.
They urged the organisers to consider an open dialogue, stressing that Nigeria leaders do not care about the safety of lives, property nor well-being of its citizens. In a press release, the Take-It-Back Movement National Coordinator, Juwon Sanyaolu, insisted that there was no going back on the planned protest.
Sanyaolu said the protest was to draw attention to the country’s worsening insecurity, shrinking civic space, and growing economic hardship. He urged Nigerians to take to the streets in peaceful protest, calling on workers, students, civil society groups, artisans, and members of the diaspora to join the action.
“This June 12, we march not just for ourselves, but for the slain in Benue, the displaced in Plateau, the silenced in detention, and the starving masses abandoned by a corrupt elite,” Speaking to newsmen on Thursday, June 5, 2025, the Women leader in the Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State, Lady Ebony Nwuke-Ibe said, “they said if you try something it doesn’t work you should try something new.
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Protest has been like pouring water on a duck’s back, I think it is time we have an open dialogue. “The economy is bitting, even those in the upper class I believe that the weight on them would be on the high side because the masses are suffering so their pocket too will suffer because people will keep going to them for financial assistance, at this point in time, it’s exhausting really, saying the same thing over and over again, so I will say a new route should be taken but the question would be what route; maybe it’s time we have a dialogue.”
Nwuke-Ibe stated that “you can only make an impact if you are reaching, getting to the people who you need that information to get to, so if they are not even interested in it, of course, they will not hear it, they will not see it. “It’s high time we go back to the drawing board to know what works, you can not keep doing something over and over again and keep failing at it, I used the term failing because there has been no effect whatsoever.
Do something in a way that you cannot be ignored.” Further, a stakeholder, Mr Victor Dike noted that, “nothing good will come out. Protest has been a decade event before now, decades ago there were protest it will only have its way as protest but it will make no change.
“Nothing will change. Nigerians have missed the link because what the Nigeria masses are facing or suffering today is political ambushment where the masses are now seen as core enemies order than being core beneficiaries of the dividends of a good government or any good government, instead, the government see the people as their core enemy and they themselves become richer not caring about the masses.
“There is hardly any politician today that is not living well but the average Nigeria on the street have not eaten a square meal. He may not even have N50 to buy sachet water but politicians are gathering billions to themselves, that’s the sorry situation in Nigeria.”
