Violent protesters defy curfew, cripple businesses in Kano

Protesters grounded commercial activities in Kano to demonstrate against bad governance in the state and country.

Our correspondent gathered that the slow return to normalcy was worsened by the six hours of relaxation of the curfew between 8:00 am and 2:00 pm by the Kano State Government.

Kano State Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf on Thursday imposed a 24-hour curfew that was reviewed to curtail vandalization and looting of public and private properties by hoodlums that hijacked the #EndBadGovernance protest in Kano.

Yusuf alleged that there were orchestrated plots by opposition parties to allegedly sponsor thugs to unleash terror on innocent residents.

The Guardian observed a massive deployment of local guards including vigilantes, hunters, and personnel of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corp (NSCDC) around the Kanti-Kwari text market, Singer grocery market, Yankura perishable and Dawano to forestall possible invasion of hoodlums.

There was also a heavy security presence around the city center to enforce the curfew but commercial activities remained absent as markets remained shut for four days.

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Even though the multi-billion naira business and investments in the market are under protection, traders have lost hundreds of million naira transactions since the market was closed, a trader told The Guardian.

Also, financial institutions in Kano have shut their premises and operations, leaving customers to patronise Point of Sale (POS) operators.

Customers with deposits of large sums could not enter the banking halls and return home with their funds.

“Before the protest started on Thursday, business community have taken solid arrange for security of market. I can assure you there was no single case of attack on any marketplace in Kano,” a trader Adamu Yahaya said.

“Apart from the conventional security agencies, we also engaged local guard include vigilante and hunters to protect our goods. We took that decision because we know base on experience that protest in Kano we resort to looting of markets. So we have protected our investment.

“But, our problem now is the continued curfew and movement restriction. This has not allowed the leaders take decision on the reopening of the market. We are losing businesses and customers. The security situation is not certain and we are in dilemma.”