The
mass protest by Nigerians from diverse walks of life to repudiate the fuel
subsidy removal on Tuesday claimed its first human causality in Ilorin, Kwara
State capital and Lokoja, Kogi State capital, even as the anti- subsidy march
spreads to other parts of the country.
Leadership
of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, have
been meeting to strategize on what they dubbed
“Mother of all strikes” billed for Wednesday.
There
were conflicting reports by both the police and the Nigerian Labour Congress,
over who was responsible for the death of a middle aged man found dead in the
pool of blood in Ilorin. While the NLC claimed he died from gunshot by security
operatives, the police claimed he might have been stabbed by a fellow
protester.
Governor
Abdulfatah Ahmed has immediately ordered an enquiry into the cause of the death
of the yet to be identified youth while assuring the citizenry that government has made adequate
security arrangement to protect lives and property.
“Government
would do everything within its constitutional powers to guarantee the safety of
its citizens while appealing to the people not to allow opportunists hijack a
legitimate protest for an undue political gain”, the governor said in a
statement made available to newsmen shortly after the incident.
Kwara
State Police Force Public Relations Officer, ASP Ezekiel Daboh, confirmed the
death but denied culpability of any security operative in the incident which
occurred near the General Post Office junction in Ilorin. According to him the
protesters vandalized some petrol filling stations within the area Bonfire,
apparently ignited by some protesters were visible around the Emir’s palace.
In
a swift reaction, the NLC countered Daboh’s claim insisting that the victim
fell by police bullets. NLC president, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, in a statement
insisted the deceased was a victim of police bullet, adding that labour would
hold the Jonathan administration responsible for the killing.
“It
is with a heavy heart that the Congress announced the murder of an anti- fuel
price hike protester. The perpetrators of this crime were armed policemen from
the Area A Division, close to UBA, Ilorin and the state police command along
Sulu Gambari Road, Ilorin’’, Omar stated.
The
police, he continued falls under the direct control of the Presidency led by Dr
Goodluck Jonathan.
‘’The
NLC holds the Jonathan administration liable for this murder and advises it to
fish out its agents who shot protesters in Ilorin and bring them to justice’’,
he added
Also
in Lokoja, the police reportedly killed one of the participants and injured
several others during a stampede engendered by police tear gas. Expectedly the
protests were most noticeable in Lagos, Abuja, the seat of federal government,
Port Harcourt, Kano, Kaduna and the ever-busy Lokoja-Abuja highway where the
protesters barricaded the road.
Businesses
were generally paralyzed in the affected towns.
In
Lagos, fiery lawyer Mr Femi Falana and former ASUU National President Dr Fashina and other labour
leaders, among other dignitaries led the anti-subsidy procession through major
streets in the city.
The
ever-busy Ikorodu expressway and major roads in Lagos metropolis were deserted
while businesses were shut. The procession stopped briefly at the Yaba liaison
office of the NLC where Falana, Fashina and otherse Chief Gani Fawehinmi motor
park, Ojota.
Attempts
by the police to disperse them however introduced a fiery dimension to the
procession as of the protesters threw back canisters of tear gas fired at them
by a police team.
In
Ibadan youths led by the University of Ibadan students union president, Mr
Tokunbo Salako marched round major streets in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital to
condemn the subsidy removal.
The
youths who demanded the immediate resignation of President Jonathan, Finance
Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and her Information counterpart, Mr Labaran Maku
for deceiving Nigerians on the subsidy issue, marched to the Oyo State
Governor’s office where they delivered a letter to Senator Abiola Ajimobi for
onward transmission to the president.
Commending the protesters for being peaceful, governor Ajimobi said
democracy entails that everyone should air his views freely on any
government
policy without being gagged.
1 comments:
Isaiah 1:16-17
Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
THE BIBLE says, the oppress be releived ( nigerians)by our leaders.
God pls intervien in ds country.touch the heart of our bad leaders, the opression is too much.
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