On Friday, hundreds of protesters gathered in Nigeria's economic capital to celebrate Democracy Day, using the national holiday to denounce the rising cost of living and deteriorating security.
Protesters gathered in Lagos, holding placards and chanting slogans calling on the government to address economic hardship, unemployment and what they described as the country's democratic system's failure to deliver tangible improvements for its citizens.
Democracy Day commemorates the presidential election of June 12, 1993, widely regarded as the freest and fairest election in the country, and won by Moshood Abiola, an emblematic figure of the pro-democracy movement who has since passed away.
It marks the country's return to civilian rule and recalls the struggle against the military dictatorship.
This demonstration was part of a broader national action organized by civil society groups and activists, who stated that many Nigerians had hardly benefited from more than two decades of uninterrupted democratic rule.
In a speech delivered on Democracy Day, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu called for national unity and urged Nigerians to continue to believe in the country's democratic institutions despite current difficulties.
Nigeria is currently experiencing its longest uninterrupted period of democratic governance since the end of military rule in 1999, but public discontent has increased in recent years as households face soaring prices.
This West African country is also facing a complex and multifaceted crisis, in which two distinct categories of armed groups operate.
On one side, there are Islamist groups such as Boko Haram and its breakaway faction, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), as well as several informal groups commonly referred to as "bandits", specializing in kidnappings for ransom.
