As the Endbadgovernance protests entered the fifth day, demonstrators across the country’s southern region have continued to press their demands for the reversal of reform policies that have engendered economic hardship and hunger in the country.

Though their numbers have declined sharply, they still managed to gather in reasonable numbers in various cities, particularly the capitals of some of the states in the southern part of the country, thereby defying President Bola Tinubu’s nationwide broadcast and appeal.

Speaking to the nation yesterday, President Tinubu recounted his administration’s achievements, adding that the economic reform that put Nigeria in economic hardship was a necessary sacrifice every Nigerian must pay. He also called the protesters to come for dialogue.

“I hereby enjoin protesters and the organisers to suspend any further protest and create room for dialogue, which I have always acceded to at the slightest opportunity,” the president said.

However, the organisers of the protest responded by ignoring the president’s call for dialogue and instead asking the Nigerians to take to the streets, saying that the president cannot dictate to Nigerians.

“Without our courage and resolve to dare the odds, even this acknowledgment would not have happened. So far, we have demonstrated that a president is not greater than the rest of the country

“In our view, the president cannot be approbating and reprobating at the same time. The President cannot offer an olive branch while at the same time holding a dagger to our throat,” they said.

In Lagos, some of the protesters converged at the Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park, Ojota, chanting and singing in the presence of heavy security agencies. The protesters argued that the President’s broadcast did not address their demands, the ten-day demonstration would continue.

However, the Lagos protest was considered peaceful until later in the evening, when protesters were chased by hoodlums at Ojota towards the end of the activity for the day. Due to this, the organisers announced a partial break for tomorrow, stating that the demonstration would take a break while the next convergence location would be communicated later.

In Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, the protesters took their demonstration to Mokola from Iwo Road, expressing their grievances to the government. The demonstration, which disrupted traffic movement for a while held the motorists down as the protesters were singing and chanting end bad governance, end hunger among others.

In the same vein, in Osogbo, the protest had similar movements, even though the participants were reduced, the demonstrators did not hide their grievance as was evident in their songs and noise.

It was a turn of the people in Akure the capital of Ondo state as some protesters were seen taking to the streets to protest the hardship and economic inflation in the country. The protest was a surprising event to the state as the residents had shunned the demonstrations in the past four days but decided to come out today.

As the protest enters its fifth day, a few demonstrators were spotted in the streets of Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers state. Although the protester population was not as large as the first, they gathered near UTC Junction in Old Port Harcourt township, not far from the state’s government secretariat.

Also, the protest did not disrupt the business activities in the state, as residents were seen going about with their businesses. Just like on a typical business day, the civil servants also reported to work.

However, there was no report of protests in states like Ekiti, Ogun, Benin, and other South Eastern states as the people appeared to have resolved to move on with their daily business activities.