Some supporters of President Bola Tinubu have pushed back against people calling for protests against the political class in the country.
The calls come against the backdrop of a Generation Z-driven social media movement in Nepal, where outrage over the lavish lifestyles of politicians triggered the ouster of a prime minister and sparked the country’s deadliest unrest in years.
On Monday, Nepali protesters angered by a bloody crackdown defied a police curfew, and by Tuesday took over the streets of Kathmandu.
The protesters set fire to the Supreme Court, parliament and other government buildings in the Gen Z-led demonstrations that toppled the Himalayan country’s prime minister.
Geared by the uprising, some netizens took to social media to urge citizens to protest against the elite in Nigeria.
The leader of the Take-it-Back Movement, Juwon Sanyaolu, in a post on X on Friday, said, “In 2020, Americans had Black Lives Matter. Nigerians were inspired; we did #EndSARS in the same year. In 2024, Kenya had a Finance Bill protest. It inspired us, and then we had #EndBadGovernance protest. It’s 2025. Will Nigerian youths take lessons from Nepal?”
“It’s funny how this illegitimate government keeps pushing Nigerians. Nigerians will be forced to start that protest by force, and it may even be worse than Nepal’s revolution,” another X user, Sylvester, wrote.
Another X user, Kingsley Agbonyi, said Nigerians must step out in protest against the misrule in the country.
Urging the same action, an X user, Ubtrix, wrote, “I am giving you people this update for free. It is high time people start taking protests to the rightful place. Aso Rock Villa is the place and venue if Nigerians really want to be like Nepal, the country. Do this and thank me later.”
But supporters of the government warned that any attempt to replicate Nepal’s youth-led revolt could trigger unrest worse than the #EndSARS protest.
The #EndSARS protest was a nationwide youth-led movement in October 2020 calling for the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, a police unit accused of brutality, extortion and extrajudicial killings.
The demonstrations, which began online before spilling into the streets, ended abruptly after the violent crackdown at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos, where security forces opened fire on protesters, sparking national and international outrage.
A former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, in a post on Thursday, argued that those urging Nigerians to stage protests had never been to Nepal.
“We reject for Nigeria the Nepali breakdown of law and order and senseless looting and destruction of public and private property that has been mislabelled as a protest. Even the Nepali people are now regretting it.
“Nigeria’s security forces and law enforcement agencies are urged to be on the lookout for agent provocateurs, who are misusing the freedom of expression that exists in Nigeria to try to ignite social unrest. If you want to protest#StartFromYourStateofOrigin. Not Lagos,” he wrote.
In a lengthy X post later made by Omokri, he clarified that Lagos was not responsible for the poverty experienced by other states in the country.
Comedian and actor Oluwaseyitan Aletile, popularly known as Seyi Law, echoed a similar sentiment in a post on X, criticising those who expressed delight over the protests in Nepal.
“They are happy about Nepal until rebuilding becomes a problem. They will never learn from Libya. They think revolution won’t affect the politicians they love. Keep fanning what you can’t sustain, and remember to start in your region.
“They will show you burnt buildings and politicians beaten, but they won’t tell you that Nepalis are regretting now. Iconic structures have been destroyed, criminals escaped, women raped, and their properties looted. They’re already claiming the protest was hijacked. Like Geh geh (a Nigerian social media influencer), had I known is the last comment of a fool,” he wrote.
Findings by Saturday PUNCH revealed that the hashtag#StartFromYourStateofOrigin was widely circulated by pro-government accounts on X on Friday.
Also joining in sharing the hashtag, the Vice President of Nigeria Youth Advocate, Bushari Adewale, wrote, “If you want to protest like these Nepali youths, then #StartFromYourStateof Origin. Not Kwara.”
Civil societies react
Commenting on the calls for protest, the chairman of the Rivers Civil Society Organisations, Enefa Georgewill, in an interview with Saturday PUNCH, faulted Nigeria’s leadership for failing to deliver meaningful change despite repeated agitations for reforms.
He argued that while the government rebranded SARS, its alleged abuses persisted under other tactical units.
He urged the government to “take a clue from what the Nepalese people have done and retrace their steps.”
Also speaking, the President of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Debo Adeniran, noted that there were differences between Nepal’s uprising and Nigeria’s #EndSARS protests.
“The case of Nepal is significantly different. In Nigeria, it was agitation against the misuse of weapons by SARS and the preponderance of their victims. In Nepal, it was the cost of living and other pressures that pushed them to strike back,” Adeniran said.
He acknowledged that current economic hardship in Nigeria mirrored some of Nepal’s frustrations, but stressed that recovery efforts would require sacrifice.
Adeniran added that ongoing youth-focused incentives by the Federal Government could help starve off unrest.
“A number of beneficiaries are attesting to it, and I believe those are things that will not allow for such unrest in Nigeria,” he added.
The General Overseer of the Foundation of Truth Assembly, Reverend Yomi Kasali, also warned that the Nepal uprising could happen in Nigeria, given the effect of the economic challenges on the people.
Kasali, who was also the 2019 Director General of the former vice president Yemi Osinbajo’s Presidential Campaign Organisation, stated this during a news conference in Lagos on the state of the nation.
He added that Nigerian churches ought to be doing more to assist the government and help the poor as the country navigates through economic challenges.
Kasali said, “The poor will think all the wealthy men are criminals and corrupt. And the good and the innocent may be killed, butchered and murdered. What happened in Nepal two, three days ago, can happen in Nigeria. No country is immune to revolution. The myth that it can’t happen here may not happen, may not be in our time.
“I was watching one of the TikTok videos of Nepal, and I called my son out of the country, the United States. I said, ‘Look son, I’m scared.’ If this happens in Nigeria, people like us can be killed.
“The poor will think all the wealthy men are criminals and corrupt. And the good and the innocent may be killed, butchered and murdered.”
