By: Taseyon Junadu
LAGOS, NIGERIA – A coalition of human rights groups, under the banner “End Bad Governance,” staged a major protest, in commemoration of 2025 World Human Rights Day, delivering a sweeping list of demands to both the Lagos State and Federal Governments, highlighting systemic failures and alleged widespread rights abuses.
The demonstration, held on Wednesday, December 10, 2025, commenced at the Ikeja Under Bridge to Alausa Secretariat, a symbolic gathering point for public dissent. Protesters, wielding placards and chanting slogans, called for immediate action on issues ranging from academic freedom and housing rights to judicial persecution and police brutality.
Demands to Lagos State: Restore, Compensate, and Halt Overreach
The demands, read by Comrade Kehinde Adeoye, immediate past chairman of committee for human rights group and signed by Comrade Hassan Soweto for the organizing committee, first targeted the state government.
Key ultimatums include the immediate reinstatement of five unjustly sacked Lagos State University (LASU) lecturers with full payment of backlogs of salaries and allowances.
The state was also urged to cease interference in public university unionism and to halt illegal demolitions and land grabbing, specifically in Oworonshoki and Ajegunle, with adequate compensation for victims.
Further demands call for an end to extortionate taxation, the establishment of a human rights committee in the State House of Assembly, and a cessation of illegal raids, arrests, and extortion by state agencies.
Federal Face-Off: Drop Charges, Stop Persecution, Sack Police Chie
The protest’s demands to the Federal Government were even more sweeping. They urgently called on the Attorney General of the Federation to halt the “treason” trials of Adaramoye Michael, Daniel Akonde, and nine other “End Bad Governance” protesters, drawing a parallel to President Tinubu’s pardon of 117 minors in a similar case last November.
The list insists on an end to the persecution of human rights defenders, labour activists, journalists, bloggers, and student activists. A critical demand is the revocation of all punitive measures against the University of Ibadan (UI) and an immediate nationwide release of all unjustly incarcerated individuals.
Call for Independent Probe into Alleged Atrocities
In one of the most severe allegations, protesters demanded an independent panel to investigate claims of abduction, torture, organ harvesting, and extra-judicial killings levied against the police anti-kidnapping unit.
The coalition called for the prosecution of all personnel found responsible and adequate compensation for victims. Topping the federal demands is the call to sack the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, whom they accuse of presiding over a “highly irresponsible and corrupt police force that abuses human rights.”
A Reaction to a Growing Climate of Repression?
The protest and its detailed manifestos appear to be a direct response to what organizers describe as a shrinking civic space and intensifying state repression. The specific cases cited from sacked lecturers and demolished communities to detained protesters and persecuted journalists are presented as symptoms of a broader governance crisis. The reference to past pardons underscores a perception of inconsistent and selective application of justice.