Armed security operatives, on Friday, fired teargas canisters to halt protesters’ march from MKO Abiola National Stadium through the United Nations’ building area towards Eagle Square where protesting groups planned to converge for a rally.
While Abuja metropolis was largely calm and peaceful on Friday, August 2, security personnel from various agencies in apparent response to intelligence reports, reinforced their cordons around key government buildings in the Central Area and the Three Arms Zone.
The protesters, who began their march at 12:39 pm, regrouped at the MKO Abiola National Stadium by 1:50 pm, briefly engaging security forces in a shouting match but unlike Thursday afternoon when miscreants hiding under the guise of protest stoned policemen near the Ministry of Finance in the Central Area, no violence was recorded on Friday.
“The sun was hot yesterday and many people (protesters) became tired, very thirsty and hundry on Thursday afternoon without finding any source of food while facing a long trek back to their respective destinations in the suburbs,” a hardly –literate protester who spoke through an interpreter.
Other protesters warned against the use of brute force to stop the protest, demanding that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should make a presidential address on hunger, increased cost of foodstuffs and other grievances.
The protesters chanting slogans like “End Bad Government” and “Bring back Subsidy” as they marched also called for the return of fuel subsidies to reduce petrol prices and an end to corruption in the subsidy regime.
The protesters had earlier converged on different parts of Abuja, including the Berger Roundabout in Wuse Zone 6, as early as 9:06 am, before marching to the MKO Abiola Stadium.
A helicopter was spotted flying over the stadium as protesters gathered, adding to the tense atmosphere.
Security forces, including personnel from the Army Headquarters Garrison Command, NSCDC, and DSS, are on the scene, with FCT Commissioner of Police, Bennett Igweh, visiting the area.
Aside from the ugly incident most parts of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were calm as residents took in the events accompanying the #EndBadGovernance protest 24 hours earlier.
There was light traffic along most major roads in the nation’s capital, with security personnel in riot gear stationed at strategic places ostensibly to avoid a repeat of the riots witnessed during Thursday’s protest, when miscreants took advantage to cause mayhem in some areas.
Increased police presence along the highway leading to Nnamdi Azikwe airport appeared to have forestalled the influx of hoodlums into the city; in Lugbe area where policemen exchanged gunshots with a group on Thursday, all was calm throughout Friday as police continued a search for hoodlum with gunshot wounds.
While roads that were blocked on Thursday were opened, many business premises were still shut, even though no gatherings of protesters or miscreants were visible.
However, some motorists still put green leaves on their vehicles in anticipation of any appearance by protesters who usually interpret the presence of such leaves as a sign of sympathy with the protest cause.
The security cordons around the Three Arms Zone which houses the Federal Secretariat, Presidential Villa, National Assembly and the Supreme Court remained heightened, with dozens of fully kitted soldiers and policemen mounting vigil along the roads around the seat of power.
– Nation