Nigerian youths protest corruption, insecurity
0…continuation of the march on Abuja, this time in Lagos…#Enough is Enough
AFP reports…
LAGOS — Hundreds of youths marched through Nigeria’s largest city Tuesday to protest a lack of progress in an anti-corruption fight and urge increased security after hundreds were killed in recent unrest.
The demonstrators carried placards and chanted slogans urging investigations of corrupt government officials and state agencies.
In a protest letter to Lagos Governor Babatunde Fashola, the protesters said that “the government must show its seriousness in prosecuting alleged corrupt practices and in solving the problem of graft.”
Organised under the umbrella of “Enough is Enough”, a coalition of prominent youth groups, they also demanded an immediate total overhaul of the country’s security system.
“Nigerians are not safe,” they said, citing the recent sectarian clashes in central Plateau State which claimed hundreds of lives, as well as frequent kidnappings and assassinations across the country.
The protesters — numbering about 500 — also demanded in the letter that electoral reforms be carried out before elections due next year, which would “present the clearest path towards transparent and corruption-free elections”.
Many carried placards reading “probe corrupt officials now”, “no light, no water” and “young Nigerians get angry.”
Acting President Goodluck Jonathan assured US authorities in Washington on Monday that his government would organise credible elections in Africa’s most populous nation next year.
Nigeria has a history of electoral fraud and violence.
