Concerns as protests turn violent in North, govs impose curfews

• IGP declares end to protests • B’Haram infiltration kills four, injures 34 • Wike meets Tinubu, expresses govt’s readiness to dialogue with protesters
• Heavy deployment of security operatives at Aso Villa gates • Eminent Nigerians advise President on how to end protests
• Journalists attacked, recount encounters with violent protesters

The governors of Borno, Yobe and Kano yesterday imposed 24-hour curfews on their states as the protest against bad governance turned violent. Governor Babagana Zulum said the restriction was needed to protect life and property.

This came after protesters destroyed government facilities at the Borno State Traffic Maintenance Agency (BOTMA) and other places.Announcing the curfew in Maiduguri, the spokesman for the police command, ASP Nahum Dado, noted: “The state has suffered from violent extremism for over a decade. At this critical stage, it is not in the best interest of the state to distract the attention of security agencies with any lawlessness.”

Also, the Borno Police Command alleged that Boko Haram elements infiltrated protesters along Baga Road in Maiduguri, killing four persons and injuring 34 others.

The Police Commissioner, Yusuf Lawal, disclosed this while providing a situation report to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri. He said the police swiftly deployed the Explosive Ordnance Device (EOD), Base 13, which probed the scene and rendered the area, which was near a filling station, safe.

Lawal said the injured persons and corpses were evacuated to the Specialist Hospital in Maiduguri for treatment and autopsy. Lawal, who commented on the curfew, said many minors, mostly Almajiris, between the ages of nine and 15, took over the Maiduguri-Kano road and vandalised public property.

He explained that despite persuasion by the police, the crowd turned riotous, forcefully broke barriers, pelted officers with stones and advanced towards the city centre.

Lawal said the rioters later spilt to other parts of Maiduguri and broke into the Borno State Mechanical Workshop along Baga Road.

“They looted vocational skills acquisition equipment and vandalised five official vehicles belonging to BOTMA.” According to him, 14 suspects were arrested and are currently under investigation at the command’s Criminal Investigation Department.

He said the situation in other local councils of the state remained calm, even as the police continued their monitoring and patrols. Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, directed security agencies to enforce total restriction of human and vehicular movement to halt the looting and destruction of public property.

Addressing journalists at Government House, Yusuf lamented the hijack of the protest by hoodlums. He said the restriction was a last alternative to prevent the loss of life and property and restore calm to the state.

Hoodlums invaded shops and carted away government property. Others set up bonfires. Security operatives responded by deploying teargas and shooting into the air to disperse the youths.

About 11 journalists narrowly escaped death as hoodlums attacked a vehicle belonging to Channels TV. Brandishing dangerous weapons, the assailants smashed the bus, which had been conveying the journalists along Sokoto Road in the metropolis.

A TVC correspondent in Kano, Ibrahim Isah, who was seated near the rear window, sustained cuts. Hoodlums also invaded the new Digital Park Centre of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) at Audi Bako Secretariat, where they looted property worth millions of naira.

Yobe State Governor Mai Mala Buni also imposed a curfew, lamenting that the protesters abandoned civility and set fire to the Potiskum Local Government Secretariat and six buses.

Announcing the curfew, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters, Brig. Gen. Dahiru Abdulsalam (rtd) said: “Today’s curfew is imposed by Governor Buni in the violently affected towns of Potiskum, Gashua and Nguru, a border community with the Niger Republic.”

He said hoodlums took advantage of the protest to destroy public property worth billions of naira. Special Adviser urged members of the public in the affected towns to comply with the restriction order. He said security agencies have been directed to enforce the directive.

THIS came as Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Ezenwo Nyesom Wike expressed the government’s readiness to dialogue with protesters. He disclosed this while presenting staff of office to the chiefs of Karu, Kwali, Pai and Yaba. Wike said the nation’s capital remains a precious asset, noting that if the FCT is destroyed, it would negatively affect the entire country.

“Let me take this opportunity to commend the people, the youths of Abuja, for not being violent. We have said that it is better to dialogue with the government and keep the peace. He who makes peace will, at the end of the day, enjoy the dividends of peace.

“I still want to talk to our people that we are still ready to sit down and dialogue with them and let them know things that they may not know because information is power. I commend the protesters in Abuja who have refused to be violent,” he said. Wike was, yesterday, sighted at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Dressed in a white suit, he arrived in a chauffeur-driven Prado Jeep and went to President Bola Tinubu’s office through the forecourt access, also known as NADECO Route.

While the purpose of the visit was not disclosed, it might not be unconnected with the ongoing protests.

THERE was a heavy security presence at the main gates to the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the nation’s capital. A large deployment of security personnel including police, soldiers, and Department of State Services (DSS) operatives, took positions at the gates located in the Asokoro district of the Federal Capital Territory.

This was, ostensibly, to ward off daring protesters from infiltrating the seat of power which also provides accommodation to the President. The security personnel were seen checking commuters and vehicles accessing the area, particularly at the entrance close to the Fire Service and Supreme Court gates.

The heightened security presence came amid reports of tension in the Jikwoyi-Kurudu axis of the FCT. In the ensuing melee, a Vanguard Newspapers Aso Villa Correspondent, JohnBosco Agbakwuru, was accosted by protesting youths on his way to the Villa via the Kubuwa-AYA expressway.

His hand-held phone was snatched, and he was forced to pay N5,000 before recovering the communication gadget from the aggrieved protesters who had blocked the road from the Kubwa axis.

Similarly, Shola Ojolo, a Silverbird Television cameraman for the Villa, encountered the protesting youths on the Nyanya-Abacha Barracks road. They jumped on his car and sat on the bonnet, chanting protest songs.

A team of military personnel barricaded the Abacha Barracks Underbridge and forced the protesters to turn back. Stephen Angbulu, a journalist with The Punch newspapers, had a harrowing experience on his way to the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

He was driving through the area housing the Abuja Metro, which also accommodates the Churchgate Towers in the Central Area when his car was targeted by stone-throwing miscreants.

Angbulu managed to avoid the first stone, but the second struck his vehicle, causing significant damage to the alloy wheel. The journalist, who appeared shaken by the experience, was glad he was not harmed as he continued his journey to the Villa.

Ubale Musa, a reporter with Deutsche Welle, also narrowly escaped a potentially dangerous situation en route to the Villa. Narrating his ordeal, Musa said he encountered a large mob, who came from the Gwarimpa area and were attempting to force their way into the AYA.

The correspondent praised the military’s swift action in blocking the expressway, saying that if not for their swift intervention, the mob might have succeeded in marching to the Villa.

MEANWHILE, some eminent Nigerians called on President Bola Tinubu to review some of the policies that may have precipitated the protests. Leader of Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, said: “This government must address the challenges of hunger and poverty, and it must also do everything possible to assure the people.”

He said the anger, poverty and other issues weighing Nigeria down can only be resolved if and when the nation is restructured to true federalism. Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential candidate, Adewole Adebayo, urged Tinubu to “put his acts together” and take control of his government by swiftly addressing the extreme difficulties faced by Nigerians due to his administration’s policies.

A former Chairman of the Kaduna State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Joseph Hayab, said: “What I discovered is that most of the government’s spokespersons don’t know how to pacify angry and hungry people. I implore such appointees to stop compounding matters for the government.”

Former Secretary-General of Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE) Dr Kunle Olajide said: “The Federal Government is aware of the demands of the protesters. You cannot totally ignore the people. There must be amelioration. The government can do a little reversal of some policies that caused people to protest.”

For the National Publicity Secretary of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), New Era, Sina Akinpelu, the government must address the demands of the people and implement concrete palliatives to assuage hungry citizens.

A political scientist, Prof. John Ayoade, noted: “Government must stick out its necks to curb the protests. There are central and local grievances. It is important for the governments at the state level to talk to their people. They understand the issues and the people’s language.