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Protesters leave Lagos ground, desert Abuja, Benin venues
Protesters leave Lagos ground, desert Abuja, Benin venues
The few people who gathered at the Freedom Park in Lagos early in the day dispersed after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s broadcast.
The Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja was also deserted.
The popular Ring Road in Benin, centre of the protest since Thursday was cleared yesterday after the President’s broadcast.
The President told the protesting youths in his 25-minute address to the nation to call off their three-day-old action, saying he had heard them loud and clear.
Immediately after the broadcast, a disagreement broke out among the demonstrators at the Freedom Park in Lagos.
One of the leaders of the protesters announced to others the need to shelve the protest, having heard from the President.
He suggested that it should be put off till October 1 to give the President more time to evaluate the situation and take further action.
But a counter instruction was given almost immediately by other protesters, who said the President did not adequately address their demands.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Paul Okafor appealed to them to disperse because of the need for peace to reign in Lagos.
Thereafter, the protesters left in droves but the security agents remained on the ground.
Sanwo-Olu opens engagement channels
Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu announced channels of engagement, following the discontinuation of action by those protesting against economic hardship in the state.
The announcement was made in a statement by Mr. Gbenga Omotoso, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy.
It reads: “The Lagos State Government expresses appreciation to the protesters in Lagos for their peaceful conduct and their announcement of an end to their action following the broadcast by the president.”
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Praising leaders of the protest in the Centre of Excellence, the governor said: “Your stoppage of the protest today is a crystal clear affirmation of the fact that you know your collective voice has been heard by the government. What you have done is not only noble, but the civilised thing to do.
“In demonstration of the government’s commitment to continuous engagement with the youth, the governor has directed that despite the stoppage of the protest, the dialogue and engagements which the state government initiated prior to the action must continue.
“Consequently, Mr. Governor has directed Ministry of Youth and Social Development; Ministry of Information and Strategy and Office of Civic Engagement to immediately open wider channels of engagement with various stakeholders, including the protest leaders.
“The Executive Council members in charge of the ministries can be reached on the following dedicated Citizens Access lines:
. Office of Civic Engagement +234 802 522 4347
. Ministry of Information & Strategy +2348119655788
. Ministry of Youth & Social Development +2347077178295
“Now, it is fit and proper to, once again, warn our citizens to be very vigilant. Those who seek to divide us are yet to give up.
“They may continue to post fake news via audio and video channels. Lagosians must never give room to warmongering, scaremongering and rumour-mongering. That is not our way; that is not who we are. That is not our style.”
The statement quoted the governor as “praising Lagosians for rejecting anarchy and embracing peace”.
He also hailed the professional conduct of all security agencies, the Police Command, the Department of State Services, the military, Civil Defence, and Neighborhood Watch.
The statement further reads: “The governor notes with great pride the roles of our traditional rulers, civil society organisations, community leaders, religious leaders, students’ leaders and others, who ensured Lagos remained peaceful.”
Moshood Abiola Stadium deserted
The Nation correspondents, who monitored developments in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), observed that normalcy had returned.
The stadium where they were confined to by the court was empty as of 4 pm.
Security operatives, especially the police, were stationed at the venue to maintain law and order.
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A helicopter was hovering over the FCT for the better part of the day.
But all was quiet in the Federal Capital city.
Vehicular movement was easy but roads were largely empty.
It may also be because it was a Sunday when most people were indoors.
At every major intersection, security men were stationed to keep an eye on the environment.
Some of the few vehicles on the road, especially commercial vehicles, had leaves affixed on their windscreen, an indication that they were for peace.
Security around the Presidential Villa remained heightened.
The Kubwa-Zuba Motorway was free. Normal movement of traffic was observed.
Movement from Karshi town to other parts of the nation’s capital city was smooth.
Benin venue cleared
The protesters in Edo State yesterday suspended the protest after the President’s speech.
Immediately after the broadcast, the protesters removed the podium at Ring Road, near the palace of the Oba of Benin, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Ewuare II.
Barricades on the major roads linking the ever-busy Ring Road were also cleared by the protesting youths, thereby paving the way for free vehicular and human movements by motorists and pedestrians respectively, without harassment or molestation of passersby and commuters, but policemen were on standby, in order to prevent the breakdown of law and order.
Church services at venues
In Osun and Plateau states, the demonstrators who insisted on continuing with the protest held church services at the venues.
At the popular Olaiya Bridge in Osogbo, Osun State where the service was held, leaders of the protest were collecting offerings from the demonstrators to make purchases.
“The reason for the offering is to enable us to get logistics for this protest. Anybody can drop his offering as we pass through the streets,’’ said one of the protesters who identified himself as Bishop.
“We are continuing the protest tomorrow (today). We are not backing down. The President has not addressed our demands,” Bishop added.
Emmanuel Olowu, secretary of the state’s Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) led the service.
His sermon was taken from Exodus 14 after the praise and worship session.
Olowu, who noted that God ordains leaders, including the president, governors and lawmakers, spoke about the essence of “good leadership and followers.”
According to him, both are synonymous with the country’s current predicament.
Olowu said Nigerians from different religious backgrounds “must come together to support the cause of entrenching good governance.”
Chairman of the Democratic Socialist Movement in the state, Alfred Alagbe, read Gen. 41:13 and Matthew 21:9-11.
At the end of the service at about 12:27 p.m, the protesters continued with the protest, chanting solidarity songs.
Soyinka: How to handle protesters
Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, called on security agents to be tactical in the handling of the protests to avoid further fatalities.
Soyinka made the call in a statement he issued after President Tinubu’s address to the nation.
The statement was titled ‘’The Hunger March as Universal Mandate.’’
The Nobel laureate and global literature icon was also concerned that the President’s broadcast was silent on the actions of the security agents.
He cautioned against unprofessional conduct by security agents that could hurt protesters “who are merely asking for bread.”
According to him, a hard approach to the protests could lead to “more desperate upheavals.”
Soyinka said: “Even tear gas remains questionable in most circumstances; using it is certainly an abuse in situations of clearly peaceful protest.
“Hunger marches constitute a universal S.O.S, not peculiar to the Nigerian nation.
“They belong, indeed, in a class of their own, never mind the collateral claims emblasoned on posters.
“They serve as summons to governance that a breaking point has been reached and, thus, a testing ground for governance awareness of public desperation,” he said.
Soyinka said the tragic response to the hunger marches in parts of the country constituted a retrogression that took the nation backwards.
The statement reads: “I set my alarm clock for this morning to ensure that I did not miss President Bola Tinubu’s impatiently awaited address to the nation on the current unrest across the nation.
“His outline of government’s remedial action since inception, aimed at warding off just such an outbreak, will undoubtedly receive expert and sustained attention both for effectiveness and in content analysis.
“My primary concern, quite predictably, is the continuing deterioration of the state’s seizure of protest management, an area in which the presidential address fell conspicuously short.
“Such short-changing of civic deserving, regrettably, goes to arm the security forces in the exercise of impunity and condemns the nation to a seemingly unbreakable cycle of resentment and reprisals.
“Live bullets as a state response to civic protest – that becomes the core issue.
“The tragic response to the ongoing hunger marches in parts of the nation, and for which notice was served, constitutes a retrogression that takes the nation even further back than the deadly culmination of the watershed ENDSARS protests.
“It evokes pre-independence – that is, colonial – acts of disdain, a passage that induced the late-stage pioneer Hubert Ogunde’s folk opera Bread and Bullets, earning that nationalist serial persecution and proscription by the colonial government.
“The nation’s security agencies cannot pretend unawareness of alternative models for emulation, civilised advances in security intervention. Need we recall the nationwide 2022/23 editions of what is generally known as the Yellow Vest movement in France?”
“Perhaps it is time to make such scenarios compulsory viewing in policing curriculum. In all of the coverage that I watched, I did not catch one single instance of a gun leveled at protesters, much less fired at them even during direct physical confrontations.
“The serving of bullets where bread is pleaded is ominous retrogression, and we know what that eventually proves – a prelude to far more desperate upheavals, not excluding revolutions.
“The time is long overdue, surely, to abandon, permanently, the anachronistic resort to lethal means by the security agencies of governance. No nation is so underdeveloped, materially impoverished, or simply internally insecure as to lack the will to set an example.
“All it takes is to recall its own history, and then exercise the will to commence a lasting transformation, inserting a break in the chain of lethal responses against civic society.
“Today’s marchers may wish to consider adopting the key songs of Hubert Ogunde’s bread and bullets if only to inculcate a sense of shame in the continuing failure to transcend the lure of colonial inheritance where we all were at the receiving end. One way or the other, this vicious cycle must be broken.”
Protesters leave Lagos ground, desert Abuja, Benin venues
THE NATION
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200,000 repentant terrorists surrender, drop arms in North East – CDS
200,000 repentant terrorists surrender, drop arms in North East – CDS
The Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, has disclosed that about 200,000 repentant terrorists have so far dropped their arms and surrendered to troops in the North East, noting that the twin strategy of kinetic and non-kinetic operations was responsible for this achievement.
The CDS made this known at the Security and Justice Symposium organised by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) in collaboration with the British High Commission, which began at the National Counterterrorism Centre in Abuja on Tuesday.
He disclosed that the theme of the symposium, ”Securing Peace, Ensuring Justice, Protection, Conduct, and Accountability,” speaks volumes about the deluge of security challenges the armed forces and security agencies are facing.
His words, “All the challenges we are facing today have to do with fairness, equity, justice, and accountability.
“There will not be peace without justice, equity, fairness, and accountability. In our operations, we are conducting both kinetic and non-kinetic strategies, which have to a large extent yielded significant successes, and we want to particularly thank the National Security Adviser for his great support in this regard.
“Nigeria is going through so many challenges, and we feel we’re able to address this, and everybody has a sense of belonging. A lot of the security challenges we are having, we are sure, will go down. I want to thank the National Security Advisor for all the support he’s given us, both the kinetic and the non-kinetic.
“We have said it; the kinetic aspect is just less than 30%. The non-kinetic has a lot to play. The non-kinetic, because when you have democracy, people must have the evidence of democracy. As long as it tells people to sleep well and be peaceful, and they are hungry, their children cannot eat, and all this creates more problems.
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“The issue of informants. We have to look at how we tackle this issue of informants. Because these are the people who have created the issue.
200,000 repentant terrorists surrender, drop arms in North East – CDS
metro
Robbers kill two members in shoot-out with Delta police
Robbers kill two members in shoot-out with Delta police
The spokesperson for the police in Delta State, SP Bright Edafe, has confirmed the death of two robbery suspects in the state.
Mr Edafe, who disclosed this to journalists on Tuesday in Warri, said that the deceased were killed from the bullets shot by their gang members.
According to him, the incident occurred on Wednesday at Effurun, Uvwie Local Government Area of the state.
Mr Edafe explained that the deceased were leading the police surveillance team attached to the Ekpan Division to their hideout when they were caught during a shoot-out.
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“The suspects were arrested at Effurun roundabout with a bag containing 57 live cartridges and other items. They were leading the surveillance team to their hideout at Warri/Sapele road when their gang members, on sighting the vehicle of the police team, engaged them in a shootout.During the gun duel, the arrested suspects that were leading the police team were fatally wounded by the gun shot of their colleagues. The two injured suspects were taken to the hospital and later died while receiving treatment,” he said.
Mr Edafe said that items recovered from the hoodlums hideout included: one English pump action gun, one locally made cut-to-size gun and eight live cartridges.
Others were: six iPhones, Smart phones and a Rolex wrist watch.
He said that the command had intensified manhunt on the fleeing members of the gang.
Robbers kill two members in shoot-out with Delta police
(NAN)
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