To prevent hijack of protest, nallow any individual or group to become the face of the protest. Generally, there are different people/groups with their different agenda hiding under the genuine concern of the general population during protest. I will try to list some of these groups:

1. Genuine Protesters: Patriotic Nigerians driven by concern for the country’s terrible situation, and are seeking positive change through peaceful protest seeking to #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria

2. Attention Seekers: These are self-serving individuals that are seeking leadership status and be seen as the face of protests. Their objectives are to attract donations and recognition for self gain.

3. Protest Vendors: These are opportunistic people selling protest-related merchandise, such as branded shirts and caps, for self financial gain.

4. Asylum Seekers: These are people seeking to leverage on the protest to flee the country and seek asylum abroad, citing persecution or violence. These people primary objective is not to end bad governance but to ‘japa’.

5. Corrupt Government Officials: These are officials of the government that are secretly fueling anarchy and violence so as to profit from reconstruction contracts, allocations, and emergency funds. They usually use sponsored thugs, infiltrate protesters or do something ridiculous to provoke violence.

6. Street Criminals: These are individuals that exploit genuine protests to settle scores with law enforcement agents, free their comrades from detention by breaking prisons and police facilities, and pursue nefarious agendas, such as looting, extortion and vandalism.

7. Ruthless Politicians: These are power-hungry politicians sponsoring or awaiting anarchy to eliminate political rivals and critics, so as to blame protesters or security forces for the violence, and then consolidate power.

The agenda of every member of the 2nd to 7th category is to take advantage of the genuine concerns of majority Nigerians, who fall in the first category, to advance their selfish desires.

So shine your eyes as you exercise your right to peacefully protest against the bad governance in Nigeria

#EndBadGovernmentInNigeria

– Tonye Barcanista