36 State: August 1st protest Plays Different Tunes in States

The August 1st nationwide protests has  recorded a mixed grill. Three northern states governor declare Curfew in Kano, Borno, Yobe, while 11 killed in four states.

Meanwhile, No protest happened in Ekiti, Ebonyi, Abia, Anambra, Kwara, Kogi, Kebbi, Akwa Ibom and Benue.

Police disperse demonstrators in Abuja while it was peaceful in Lagos and the nation’s commercial capital of Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Rivers, Plateau and Cross River.

But it turned violent in parts of the North such as Kano, Kaduna, Borno, Gombe, Niger, Jigawa and partly in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

 

Youths in some states declined to participate. These are Ondo, Ekiti in the Southwest; Kogi, Kwara and Benue in the Northcentral; Kebi in the Northwest, Akwa Ibom in the Southsouth and four Southeast states – Anambra, Enugu, Abia and Ebonyi.

 

No fewer than 11 eleven people were killed in four states during the violence that accompanied the protests.

 

A police station in Nyanya, Abuja and the secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Dutse, Jigawa State, were lighted up.

 

The police used teargas to disperse some protesters, who attempted to seize Eagle Square.

 

As feared by the security agencies, hoodlums hijacked the protest and went on a looting spree in Kano, Borno, Yobe and Edo, forcing governors of these states, except Edo, to slam curfew on the first day of what the organisers said would last for 10 days.

In Abuja Hoodlums hijacked the protest in the FCT.

 

They took over major roads leading to the city and other satellite towns.

 

Organisers had headed to the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja in compliance with a court order but on arrival, met a large number of security men.

 

They were told by the operatives that they were there to maintain order and enforce the court’s restrictions.

 

Activist-lawyer Deji Adeyanju led the protesters in singing solidarity songs.

 

FCT Commissioner of Police Bennet Igweh asked the protesters to move into the stadium complex instead of staying outside but the organisers insisted on staying outside.

 

After an hour, the protesters moved into the city through the Central Business District (CBD) to Eagle Square where the protest was hijacked, leading to violence.

 

At that point, security agents started shooting teargas canisters to disperse them from gathering around the Ministry of Foreign Affairs near the Federal Secretariat.

 

While close to Labour House, the protesters barricaded the road leading to the Mabushi axis of the city, holding sticks.

 

Along the popular Abuja-Kubwa Expressway down to Dei-dei and Bwari town, the roads were like a war zone with battalions of soldiers.

 

Hundreds of protesters believed to be urchins brandished sticks, barricaded all the lanes and made burn fire with tyres.

 

The situation degenerated around the Kugbo to Nyanya stretch of the Abuja-Keffi highway.

 

The miscreants vandalised public utilities and looted shops.

 

The security agents prevented the urchins from gaining entrance into the Abuja city centre.

 

The move yielded some significant results as they successfully pushed them back to Mararaba and thereafter opened the roads.

 

This, however, did not stop the hoodlums from extorting motorists and smashing their vehicle windscreens. Some motorists were injured.

 

Police fired tear gas as youths set up a bonfire in Kurudu, Abuja, markets failed to open at Karu market.

The Police in the Kurudu area, a suburb of Abuja metropolis, clashed with youths attempting to set up bonfires on some roads.

 

The youths claimed that they wanted to draw attention to their grievances, while the police said they were working to maintain restore normalcy to the area.

 

Curfew was imposed on three states – Kano, Borno and Yobe – to avert a further breakdown of law and order.

 

In Kano, 13 persons were arrested by security agents for their involvement in the mayhem.

 

Governor Abba Yusuf imposed the curfew after the multi-million naira Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Digital Industrial Park (DIP) and the state High Court were vandalised by urchins who allegedly infiltrated the protesters.

 

Six youths were killed and many others injured during the protest in Suleja, Niger State when police tried to disperse them with teargas.

 

Angered by the development, the youth who trooped out in their numbers, around 11 am began throwing stones and sticks at policemen. They vandalised a patrol vehicle marked NPF 9102C.

 

Hundreds of travellers were stranded for hours at the Suleja axis of the Abuja-Kaduna highway by the protesters.