A group of protesters under the aegis of the Take It Back movement came out in Benin City, the Edo State capital, to demand an end to suffering in the country.

The leader of the group, which took up position outside the Edo House of Assembly complex on Monday, Afeez Lawal, disclosed that the suffering he and his members were speaking out against comes in the shape of kidnapping and the alleged potential bullying of emanating from the Cybercrime Act which they believe represses the voice of the people.

“We are here today to demand an end to our suffering. What is this suffering? Suffering from the kidnapping, from the insecurity, from the dilapidated infrastructure, from the economic woes, from a lot of things that are affecting the nigerian people, most especially the newly signed Cybercrime Act that will be signed into law to repress the Nigerian people, to intimidate the Nigerian people,” he said.

“And as you can see, the law has sent a lot of innocent persons to jail, to prison. So, does it mean that when our leaders, those we elected, steal from us, we can’t call them thieves?

“And when you do, the next thing is that you are arrested with the DSS, you are abducted, you are kidnapped and sent to prison. So, I wonder, the kidnappers you see in our forests, what is the difference between the kidnappers in our forests and those in government?

“The kidnappers in government, they are the worst kidnappers that you have in this country because they have refused to grant to give us the security that the Nigerian people desire. So, the Cybercrime Act that gives birth to cyberbullying and cyberstalking is what we have come to demand that the government should disband it and throw it to the dustbin.”

He listed other concerns.

“Another reason why we came here is to demand an end to bad governance. We are aware that none of us is safe in this country today. None of us is safe. You can’t travel on our roads,” he said.

Another member of the group, rights activist Kola Edokpayi, insisted that the law is inconsistent with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended.

“As you are fully aware that there is a repressive, there is a monstrous, there is a satanic, there is a luciferic law, a Cybercrime Act that criminalizes freedom of expression, specifically, Section 24 of that demonic Cybercrime Act.

“You are fully aware that the Constitution of Nigeria is supreme. Section 1, sub-section 1, and section 1, sub-section 3 of the 1999 Constitution talk about the supremacy of the constitution. It says, if any law is inconsistent with the constitution, the constitution prevails,” he maintained.