No fewer than 17 persons were feared killed in Abuja, Kano, Niger, Borno, Kaduna and Jigawa during the #Endbadgovernance protest
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No fewer than 17 persons were feared killed in Abuja, Kano, Niger, Borno, Kaduna and Jigawa during the #Endbadgovernance protest which was held across the country on Thursday.
One person was shot dead in Abuja and Kano, two killed in Jigawa, six others were reportedly gunned down by security forces in Niger, while four died in Borno and three in Kaduna.
The rally began peacefully but took a violent turn in some cities leading to violent confrontations between the police and the protesters.
Businesses, banks, shopping plazas and some markets did not open for fear of the protests escalating into a crisis.
In Abuja, the demonstration claimed a victim, who was shot dead along the Kubwa expressway.
An eyewitness, who identified herself as Ekaete, said the man, whose identity could not be immediately confirmed, was gunned down after the protesters became violent and blocked the highway.
‘’I was waiting for a bus on the expressway when the protesters in their numbers blocked the highway and harassed motorists. But as they became violent, the police fired live shots, killing the young man. Everybody took off on seeing the man fall,’’ she narrated.
The police also had another encounter with protesters at the Eagles Square, Three Arms Zone, located a few metres from the Presidential Villa.
A group of protesters converged on the Eagles Square, chanting the old “Arise, O Compatriots” national anthem and demanding an end to bad governance in the country.
In response, the security operatives fired a couple of teargas canisters to discourage the protesters, who only shouted back in defiance.
Shortly after, the Minister of State for Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, arrived at the scene and attempted to address the protesters, who shouted him down with chants of “hunger dey.”
However, he called for calm, stating that he wasn’t attempting to shut down the protest but to encourage them to be civil.
“I’m not here to fight you, I’m not here to ask you not to protest, it is your right. Like I said, I’ve been to over 100-500 protests,’’ Olawande stated.
But things quickly escalated upon the minister’s exit as the operatives fired more toxic gas and pepper spray, dislodging the protesters at about 10:30am after first firing warning non-lethal shots at the ground.
Courageously, a female protester confronted the police officers, holding up her baby and daring them to shoot.
She told journalists that she showed up at the protest with her baby after bandits killed her husband in Katsina.
“I came to protest the hardship in Nigeria and the police are shooting teargas at us. Do they also want to kill my baby? People cannot eat. Things are hard,” the protester, who did not disclose her name, said.
The policemen in a helicopter also fired teargas at a group of protesters occupying the city gate.
Some protesters had earlier gathered at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium as early as 6am, in compliance with a court order earlier obtained by the FCT administration on Wednesday, restricting them to the stadium.
They, however, resisted the police directive to hold their rally inside the stadium.
They later moved to the Eagle Square, when they learnt some protesters were being harassed by security forces.
Before then, five bus-loads of pro-government protesters were brought to the stadium.
The placard-carrying youths said they were opposed to the hunger protest.
One of them admitted that they were promised N5,000 each to stage a counter-protest.
“They (organisers) picked us up and said they would give us N5,000 to protest against these people. I have collected N2,000 and I am waiting for my balance. I am hungry but the money given to him would not solve my problem,” he said.
The Director of Mobilisation, Take It Back Movement, Damilare Adenola, said the protest would continue until President Bola Tinubu acceded to their demands.
Elsewhere in Abuja, protesters, including women and young children, blocked the main road linking Karu-Kurudu and Karshi, chanting “Bamayi Tinubu”, meaning “We don’t want Tinubu.”
Some protesters were seen holding cudgels, while a few others held leaves as they turned back vehicles and blocked all movements.
The protesters are demanding the reversal of petrol pump price to N100/litre, an end to insecurity, the closing of IDP camps and electoral reform, among other things.
Adenola said, “The various orders of court restricting protesters to particular locations are an aberration. Our presence here today is an announcement that we have been oppressed for too long. Today, we have risen.
“We are saying that unless President Bola Tinubu acceded to our demands, we will remain on the streets. We want to see the President on the streets. During the protest, he was on the streets.”
One of the organisers of the protest, Michael Lenin, said it would continue on Friday (today) regardless of the intimidation by the security agencies.
He said, “The protest will continue. We are not intimidated by what the security agencies do. This government does not appear like one ready to listen to the citizens with the way protesters were attacked today. We are resolute; until he meets our demands, we will remain on the streets.“
Two persons were reportedly hit by stray bullets at the popular sharp corner in Mararaba, Karu Local Government Area in Nasarawa State, a suburban border town to Abuja where most civil servants working in the FCT live.
Sounds of gunshots were heard as the protesters occupied the Abuja-Keffi highway and setting up bonfires.
As the tension and confrontation between the security agencies and protesters increased, the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, called for dialogue, saying the government was willing to discuss with the youths.
Wike, who was later spotted at the Presidential Villa, appealed to protesters in the nation’s capital to “sit down” with the government and pursue dialogue, describing it as a better peace process.
Wike said this in his address during the presentation of the Staff of the Office to four newly graded chiefs in Abuja.
He said, “We have seen severally that it is better to dialogue; it is better to sit down and iron out issues with the government. I want you to continue with that peace process, and he who makes peace, will at the end of the day, enjoy the dividend of peace.”
“I want to commend you and still talk to our people, appeal to them that we are still ready to sit with them and dialogue with them, and iron out the grey areas.”
In Niger State, about six people were reportedly killed by the police while 11 persons were arrested for allegedly attempting to set ablaze Tafa LGA secretariat during the protest.
The command’s spokesperson, SP Waisu Abiodun, disclosed in Minna on Thursday that some hoodlums partially burnt part of the secretariat and looted valuable items.
Abiodun was silent on the number of persons killed during the incident.
He explained that at about 9:30 am, some miscreants from Tafa area of Kagarko LGA of Kaduna State and Hayin-Diko of Gurara Council Area of Niger stormed the secretariat located in Sabon-Wuse along Abuja-Kaduna expressway.
Abiodun said the hoodlums vandalised and partially set ablaze the secretariat, burnt two vehicles as well as vandalised two others.
He said the hoodlums went further to loot valuables inside offices in the secretariat, adding that in the process, police and other security agencies responded to the scene.
