Lagos: Police open venue for Revolution Now Symposium after blocking it

The police in Lagos have opened the venue for Revolution Now Symposium hours after blockading, according to local media reports. The venue was sealed off by the police and the State Security Service (SSS) early morning today and was opened only after the intervention of the human rights lawyer, Femi Falana. She had an extensive discussion with the security operatives.

The main organizer of the event was the Coalition for Revolution (CORE), a political movement led by the detained Nigerian activist, Omoyele Sowore. The event, which was scheduled to draw urgent attention to Nigeria's growing social and security crises, as well as the way forward, was initially disrupted by security forces. The theme of the event was decided to be "Democracy, State Repression and the State of insecurity in Nigeria".

The organizers had invited public figures like Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka and human activist Femi Falana, lawyer Affiong Affiong, activist Femi Aborishade to help add their voices to the worsening insecurity and a general crackdown on critics of the Buhari government.