Nigeria's #RevolutionNow protests 'going ahead'

"Revolution Now" protests against Nigeria's government will go ahead on Monday despite the arrest over the weekend of the main organiser of the planned nationwide demonstrations, his supporters say.

A spokesperson for the state security service told the BBC that security forces detained Omoyele Sowore on Saturday as "he was calling for an overthrow of the Nigerian government".

Mr Sowore’s Coalition for Revolution movement is calling for Nigerians across the country to take to the streets to demand an end to insecurity. They also want free education and healthcare for all as well as for key economic sectors to be nationalised. 

Proficience Olagokun, one of the organisers of protests that are being promoted on social media using the hashtag #RevolutionNow, told media that they wanted a revolutionary change through peaceful means.

"We will overhaul the old process through civil disobedience," he said.

The security services have not said if anyone who shows up at the protests will be arrested, although the governor of the southern state of Rivers has banned them.

On Sunday, the presidency said the protests organisers were not "serious public faces" and added that "the days of coups and revolutions are over" and that Mr Buhari had resoundingly won elections earlier this year.

Mr Sowore is the founder of the popular online paper Sahara Reporters. He has become a vocal pro-democracy campaigner and stood for president in February, coming 10th out of more than 70 candidates.