Hundreds of protesters in the federal capital, Abuja, on Thursday moved in procession from the MKO Abiola Stadium where they congregated, through the Constitution Avenue down to the Federal Secretariat, despite attempts by the police to disperse them tear gas.
This was despite a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) high court on Wednesday that restricted protesters to the stadium in Abuja.
The protests, planned for 10 days across the country, were sparked by widespread anger, hunger, economic hardship and the orgaisers are calling on government to reduce the restore the fuel subsidy regime, that was stopped when President Bola Tinubu assumed office.
After gathering in front of the Stadium, on Thursday morning, some of the protesters engaged police personnel in a heated argument, when the FCT Commissioner of Police, Benneth Igwe insisted that they enter into the main bowl as ordered by the court.
But one the organizers, Deji Adeyanju who said that he is yet to see a copy of the court order, told the police boss that the court ordered the protesters to be in the stadium and that as far as he was concerned, the protesters had complied with the order.
The protesters carried placards with several inscriptions like ‘Hunger is enough,’ and ‘End bad governance in Nigeria’ as they marched down to the seat of government.
The protesters, undeterred by the show of force by the security operatives, regrouped at the Finance Junction on Ahmadu Bello Way, and continued to chant the #EndBadGovernment slogan, insisting that they were equal stakeholders in the Federal Capital Territory.
The security agencies’ decision to deploy teargas canisters in an attempt to disperse the protesters only seemed to galvanize the crowd, with more and more people joining the demonstrations.
“Today is the hunger day, we all promise you that we are going to be the streets of Abuja. Hunger has brought me out, I don’t have money to buy fuel.
“I don’t have money to buy whatever, there is total bad governance. The government has used propaganda and fake news to tell you that the protests have been cancelled.
“The protests have not been cancelled, we are on the street. It is for 10 days. If our demands are not being met, we will remain on the streets. Hunger, insecurity, and poor housing have brought me out. A lot of things are going on in this country”, one of the protesters lamented.
Meanwhile, the Police arrested a young man clutching a knife during the protests and was taken away to an unknown destination.
The man, dressed in a wine and white T-shirt, looked terrified which attracted the attention of the police operatives that searched him and found him with a knife around the National Stadium in Abuja.
