By Michael Ofulue, Osogbo

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The Osun State chapter of the Take It Back Movement on Monday staged a peaceful protest in Osogbo, the state capital, over the Cybercrime Act.

The protesters, in their large numbers, demanded the outright rejection of the Cybercrime Act before the National Assembly, saying it is against the freedom of speech as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

The State Coordinator of the group, Lijofi Victor, said, “We are out today because of the recent Cybercrime Act. We are against it because we want our freedom of speech.

“Many people have been imprisoned for speaking up, which we are saying no to.

“The Mr. President himself has led series of protests and has spoken out and criticised certain things, but right now they want to silence us, which we are rejecting.

“We are not going to accept that until he is ready to change it.

“Help us to remove the Cybercrime Act and give us the freedom of speech that we deserve.

“We want to speak out. We don’t want anybody to imprison us. We want to have the autonomy of our speech.

“A lot of journalists, security agents, and civilians have been arrested across the country for speaking up. Now they are bringing an act that will back it up so they can jail us? We are saying no to it.

“We converged here at Olaiya, marched through Station Road, Oja-Oba, and back to Olaiya.

“We will continue the protest for as long as it takes for them to listen to us.”