Human Rights Lawyer, Femi Falana, has said that the call for revolution is not new in Nigeria, as many Political Leaders have called for revolution at one point or the other.
He stated that Nigerians called for revolution during Colonial rule, but unlike now, none of the agitators was charged with treason for it.
Falana spoke on Monday, at at a Symposium organised by the Coalition for Revolution, CORE, in Lagos.
“Let the authorities in Abuja, know that call for revolution is not new. Political Leaders in this country have been calling for revolution and nobody charged them”, he said.
“When Nigeria was at this stage in the 1940s, a group of young Nigerians, the Zikists, gathered at Glover Hall (Lagos). Their Leader, Osita Agbonna, delivered a lecture titled: “A Call For Revolution”, and those who shared the same thoughts with them were arrested and charged with sedition, that they were trying to embarrass the Colonial regime. They were not charged with treason or treasonable felony.”
He also said that the condoning off of the venue for the Symposium earlier on Monday, by the Police and the Department of State Security Services, DSS, reminded him of the era of Military Dictatorship.
“When we were outside and were told the Symposium will not hold, my mind went back to 30 years ago, during the Babangida and then the Abacha junta, when we could not meet. We defeated both Dictators, and I can assure you that any other Dictator will not be allowed to rear his ugly head.”
He noted that the government knows those disturbing the peace of the country.
“The Buhari administration knows those who are breaching the peace of Nigeria. Terrorists, armed robbers, herdsmen, coup plotters, and others. Those who went on the streets to protest in exercise of their right to assembly and complain against injustice, corruption, and maladministration in our country, cannot be said to have breached the peace in our country.”
Falana also charged members of the RevolutionNow movement to persevere, noting that, a revolution is a long and tedious journey.
“A revolution, like Chairman Mao Tse Tung said, is not a dinner party. A revolution is a very serious, rigorous, and consistent battle for the soul of a country.
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