The opening day of the planned 10 days protest against bad governance and wide spread poverty tagged #EndbadGovernance was observed in many states of the country. Some major states in which the protest held include Bauchi, Gombe, Borno, Sokoto Kano, Oyo, Osun, Rivers, Lagos and the FCT.
The protest which was largely peaceful however recorded some violence incidences in a few states.
Abuja, FCT
In the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the protest was largely peaceful in many area councils. Hundreds of protesters converged in many areas despite the heavy presence of police and military personnel, who had a hard time controlling the situation. In the Kugbo area of Asokoro, in the Abuja Municipal Council (AMAC), protesters in their hundreds poured into the streets, despite the intermittent firings of gunshots and teargas by military and police personnel who tried in vain to disperse them .
In the central area, hundreds of protesters defied warnings of the FCT minister, Nyesom Wike and the court order he had procured, that restricted protest to the Moshood Abiola stadium, as they insisted in marching to the eagles square, located at the three arms zone . The police who had deployed in force, mounted barricades and fired canisters of tear gas, as they tried to break the protest. However, the surging crowed of youths overwhelmed the police, broke through the barricades, forcefully made their way, and converged at the eagle square.
Later on, the Minister of youth development, Ayodele Olakande arrived the eagle square. And, after some moments of back and forth shouting with the protesters, who kept shouting ‘we are hungry’ at him, he was able to address them. The minister who described himself as also a ‘comrade’ with a record of participating several hundreds of protest said, “I am not here to fight you. I am not here to ask you not to protest. It is your right. Like I said, I’ve been to over one hundred to five hundred protest”.
After listening to the complains of the protesters about the police shooting tear gas at them, the minister assured them that he would take up the issue with the police authorities. However, tried as he could, the minister failed to persuade the protesters to relocate to the Moshood Abiola stadium, as they reminded him that a pro-government rally was allowed to take place, without any hindrance, at the same eagle square a few days earlier.
However, it was all chaos and bedlam In Nyanya area of Karu council of the FCT and in the neighboring Marraba town of Nasarawa state, where thousands of people took to the street for the protest against bad governance. The huge crowd of protesters, some of whom were brandishing rods and stones, defied and overwhelmed the heavy combined security of police, civil defense and military personnel, as they took over the busy Abuja-Keffi road, disrupted vehicular traffic and forced banks, businesses and markets to close. Despite the sporadic shootings by soldiers, rather than deter, infuriated the protesters, who dared them to shoot at them. Later on, the protest turned violent at the Nyanya area when some protesters, angry at attempts by the police to break up the protest, attacked a police station, setting it ablaze.
Niger state;
At least six people were feared killed and scores wounded in the protest in Suleja town of Niger state.
The deaths were said to have occurred when stray bullets which were fired when security operatives were struggling to dislodge a group of protesters who mounted barricades blocking a section of the Abuja-kaduna expressway struck the victims. The police were alleged to have fired indiscriminately as they attempted to dislodge the massive crowd of adamant youths. The shooting led to a stampede in which scores of people were injured and stray bullets struck the victims.
Kano state.
A huge crowd of protesters took to the streets in observance of the #EndBadGovernance protest. Though the protest began peacefully, it turned violence when a group of militant protesters attacked the industrial park property of the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) . There, they went on a looting spree, and later, set part of the building ablaze. Some residential and business places located in the neighborhood were also attacked and looted by the riotous protesters.
Taraba state:
Protesters took to the streets in Jalingo, the capital of Taraba state in observance of the protest. Despite the huge turnout, the protest was largely peaceful. The peaceful conduct was largely to the credit of the youthful governor of the state, Dr kefas Agbu, who embarked on a city-wide streets walk, addressing and persuading the protesters to remain peaceful, and assuring them that government will work to improve their economic situation.
Rivers state:
Hundreds of protesters defied the warnings of pro-Tinubu militant leader, Asari Dokubo, and his hollow ‘wotowoto’ threats, as they filled the streets of Port Harcourt to observe the protest. The protesters marched to, and camped at the government house, which forced the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara to come out and listen to their grievances. The governor, in his address, pleaded in vain with the protesters to return to their homes, assuring them that he will forward their complaints to Abuja. He said,” I thank you for being peaceful. I thank you for coming to me. I feel your pain. I want to assure that I will deliver your message to the president. Here in Rivers state, we will do everything to make life better. But, all we need from you is to support the federal government. We know there is hunger, but just be patient with the government. Meanwhile, I will give you a small thing for you to drink pure water”. Nonetheless, the governors pleadings and “pure water” offer could not dissuade the protesting youths who decidedly interrupted him with choruses of “no, no, we don’t need your money, we want good governance in Nigeria’ and “ Tinubu must go”.
Every subsequent efforts by the governor to have them listen to him failed. Following which he turned and walked away into the government house, as the youths continued their protest.
Lagos state.
Though the state government had restricted the protest to the Gani Fawehinmi park, huge crowds of protesters defied the order and converged in many other places, including at Ojota and at the Alausa area of Ikeja.
A mammoth crowd of protesters, among whom Shehu Atiku, a son of the former Vice-President and leader of the opposition PDP, Atiku Abubakar was sighted, converged at the Gani Fawehinmi park for the #EndBadgovernance protest. So far no untoward incidence has been reported in Lagos state.
Yobe state:
The protest which began peacefully in Damaturu, the capital of Yobe state, and in other parts of the state, later turned violent in Potiskum. There, a crowd of protesters overwhelmed police cordons, and attacked the secretariat of the Potiskum Local Government. While the reason for the attack are yet uncertain, the rampaging crowed were said to have set ablaze seven mass transit buses parked at the premises. However, the timely arrival of police reinforcements saved the secretariat from being totally looted and sacked.
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