NPFM Declares August 1 ‘National Resistance Day’ as Mass Protests Loom Over Economic Crisis and Political Repression

A major political movement in Nigeria has declared August 1, 2025, as a national day of protest, vowing to mobilize citizens across the country and abroad in what it calls a fight against worsening economic hardship, political repression, and state-sanctioned impunity.

In a statement issued on Monday and signed by Amin Al Amin on behalf of the Nigeria Patriotic Front Movement (NPFM), the group described the planned protests as a necessary response to what it called the “bandit capitalism” of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration.

The statement, obtained by correspondents, declared the date as “National Resistance Day Against Bandit Capitalism in Nigeria,” and accused the government of ignoring public demands for reform made during mass protests held in August 2024.

According to the NPFM, the August 1 action marks the one-year anniversary of last year’s “Bloody August” demonstrations, during which several protesters were allegedly killed, arrested, or forcibly disappeared in the wake of nationwide unrest.

The group says the government has neither accounted for those incidents nor addressed the deeper economic and political grievances that triggered them.

The statement condemned what it described as a deliberate erosion of democracy under the current administration, accusing President Tinubu of pursuing a style of governance that marginalizes dissent while concentrating power within a shrinking circle of political loyalists.

NPFM further criticized Tinubu’s economic policies, blaming them for a steep rise in poverty, mass unemployment, and the collapse of purchasing power for millions of Nigerians.

“The president has done nothing to address the pain of the people,” the group stated. “Instead, he blames the youth for protesting while continuing to implement policies that benefit the few and punish the rest.”

NPFM is also calling for sweeping national reforms. These include restructuring the country’s security architecture, reversing the privatization of essential services such as power and petroleum, and replacing current economic models with what the group describes as a people-centered alternative.

In a particularly scathing portion of the statement, the group accused government elites of “grabbing mineral-rich and fertile lands” in the North, a situation it says has further deepened insecurity and unrest across the region.

The statement struck a defiant tone, urging Nigerians not to accept what it described as a future of hunger, inequality, and authoritarian rule. “We will not stay in our homes and die in silence. We would rather march in the streets and demand a better life than continue living under the yoke of false promises and elite profiteering.”

The group also denounced the use of state violence and arbitrary arrests against protesters and activists, saying such tactics will not deter the August 1 demonstrations.

One voice in the statement, quoted from an internal NPFM meeting, captured the desperation felt by many: “Our unborn children are starving, and the government is making it impossible for us to feed them. They’ve stolen our present, and now they want to take away our future.”