Nigeria has become notorious as a lawless country. A country where the law is made by the rich for the poor to obey.

Nigeria has a history of what has been described by analysts as selective justice, especially in recent times when the powers that be uphold and implement laws that are for their benefit, why jettisoning and subverting those they perceive will work against their interests.

From the administration of immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari, there has been numerous cases of human rights suppression, especially as it concerns the rights of Nigerians to  protest against harsh and unfriendly policies, programs and actions of government.

One prominent case was the nationwide #End-SARS protest by Nigerian youths which the government used brutal force to stop, with reports of indiscriminate massacre of peaceful protesters. More Notorious was the alleged massacre of hundreds of peaceful, armless protesters at the Lekki Tollgate in Lagos State, where troops of the Nigerian Armed Forces allegedly opened fire on the crowd of innocent protesters, gunning down an unspecified number of people.

Till date, the government has swept the case under the carpet. No justice has been served the families whose promising loved ones were killed in such gruesome manner by the government that swore an oath to protect their lives.

Among many of such cases happening from the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari administration to the Present Bola Tinubu administration is the case of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, who various courts of competent jurisdiction, both in Nigeria and abroad have delivered judgements in his favour, discharging and acquitting him of the terrorism charges preferred against him, but the government is still holding him in detention through some nefarious and concocted charges, in clear disobedience to Court judgements.

The most recent outstanding evidence of suppression of the fundamental human rights of Nigerians is the Federal Government’s handling of the recent #End-Bad-Governance-In-Nigeria nationwide protests.

Rather than attempting  to assuage the people’s anger, the government was busy chasing shadows, hunting sponsors of the protest.

When President Tinubu reluctantly decided to address the protesters after many days of the protest, he made what has largely been perceived as one of the most shameful speeches by any President of a country to protests by the citizens, demanding a change in the manner the government was running affairs of the country, deemed detrimental to the wellbeing of the citizens. He failed to make any single commitment to the demands of the protesters.

While focusing on an attempt to convince the protesters to stop the protest, the president mistook the address to one of the rallies of his political party or expanded executive, legislative and judicial meeting, where he normally reel out his imaginery achievements, to the applause and cheers of his sycophantic audience.

No single effort was made to assuage the people’s feelings. This has resulted to a vow by the organizers of the protest to return back with more intense and unannounced protest, even as government continues its shadow chasing to clamp down on the alleged sponsors of the protest, including the Nigerian Labour Congress and the entire Organized Labour of Nigeria.

The latest brouhaha in the whole episode is the invitation of the President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) Joe Ajaero, to answer questions relating to terrorism financing and other issues concerning terrorism and sponsorship of the protests.

All these are only a few examples of the concerted effort of the Nigerian Government, especially since the inception of the All Progressives Congress, to suppress rights of Nigerians, including the right to peaceful protest.

With this unpatriotic approach by the Nigerian Government to serious issues and with the harsh economic condition and excruciating hunger in the land, we continue to ask the age long question; “WHICH WAY NIGERIA” ?