Officers of the Nigerian Police Force, on June 12, 2026, fired tear gas at a group of protesters in Abuja who were expressing concerns about the rising insecurity and economic hardship in the country.
The protesters were marching from Berger Bus Stop towards Eagle Square in Abuja, where Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu and other government officials had gathered for the June 12 Democracy Day commemoration. While en route to present their demands to the officials, they encountered police officers near the Eagle Square who reportedly fired tear gas at them.
Multiple videos online showed protesters running for safety as the tear gas spread through the crowd. Omoyele Sowore, who is also the founder of the African Action Congress (AAC) political party, was seen in a video struggling to breathe while lying on the ground.
In an interview with the media after the incident, Sowore stated that the police deployed a “strange gas” on him at close range, causing him to collapse immediately. Witnesses said several protesters experienced respiratory distress following exposure to the tear gas.
The protest was organised by a coalition of civil society organisations, trade unions, youth organisations, faith-based organisations, and social movements across multiple states of the country to mark June 12, the day of the annual commemoration of Nigeria’s struggle for democracy.
The coalition, comprising human rights lawyer Femi Falana, activists Hassan Taiwo Soweto and Omoyele Sowore, as well as labour representatives, and other civic leaders, said that the protest was organised to urge the government to take urgent action to address the worsening insecurity, increasing abductions, and rising poverty faced by many Nigerians.
In a similar development, police officers in Lagos also fired tear gas to disperse June 12 protesters who had gathered at Ikeja, expressing the same concerns.
Nigeria’s annual June 12 Democracy Day commemoration, intended to celebrate the country’s democratic gains and reflect on its democratic journey, has on several occasions been marred by security forces’ attacks on citizens who use the day to peacefully express their grievances about the country’s economic conditions. On June 12, 2021, and again in 2024, clashes erupted between protestors and the police during Democracy Day commemorations.
The police reportedly used tear gas to disperse the crowd, made arrests, and, in some cases, were accused of manhandling protesters. The protest marches were again driven by public frustrations over rising insecurity and economic hardship in Nigeria.
These incidents undermine the democratic principles of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly that the commemoration is to uphold. The MFWA, therefore, calls on the Nigeria Police to conduct a prompt, independent, and transparent investigation into the use of tear gas against peaceful Democracy Day protesters and ensure that any officer involved is held accountable.
