Despite government’s best efforts to checkmate yesterday’s mass action called by advocates to drive home their displeasure over the hardship being faced by citizens, protests still took place in many parts of the country.

Dubbed ‘10 days of rage’, the protest plan had sent jitters down the spine of government, which pulled out all the stops in an effort to mitigate it, using top officials, religious and traditional rulers to appeal to the organisers to shelve the action, insisting that government should be given more time.

But the organisers had insisted on going ahead and made good this threat yesterday with thousands of Nigerians going ahead to snub these appeals and trooped to the streets to vent their anger.

Unfortunately government’s fears of the peaceful civil disobedience degenerating into rioting and looting manifested in a number of states.

…24-hour curfew in Kano, Yobe, Borno

Although not on the scale of the #EndSARS protests of four years ago, wanton destruction of properties and looting did take place in a number of states like Kano, Yobe and Borno, where their respective state governors have declared 24-hour curfew in an attempt to curtail the violence.

For instance, the Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf, who announced the curfew in a broadcast at the Government House yesterday, directed all security agencies in the state to “ensure full and immediate compliance” with the restriction.

The governor said it is “regrettable that the whole protest that was meant to be a demonstration of the democratic right to voice our concerns was hijacked by thugs and hoodlums who embarked on looting of business premises, government properties and maiming of innocent citizens”.

“Such miscreants have become persistent in wanton destructions of private and public properties aided by enemies of the state who have been reported to the security agencies few days back,” Yusuf said.

“After exhaustive deliberations during an emergency state security council meeting, it was collectively decided that 24-hour curfew should be put in place to prevent further looting and vandalisation of shops, including indiscriminate killing and maiming of innocent citizens.

“On this note therefore, and based on the powers conferred on me by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as the chief security officer of the state, I have therefore, declared 24-hour curfew in the state with immediate effect.”

…millions of naira down the drain, Minister laments Kano

Kano was one of the hardest hit by the action of the hoodlums who vandalised and looted the newly built Digital Innovation Park, just days before its scheduled launch, prompting the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani to lament that “millions of naira have gone down the drain”.

“Sad to learn that our Digital Innovation Park in Kano slated for launch next week to support our technical talent accelerator (3MTT) has been set ablaze and looted by protesters,” Tijani stated in a post via X yesterday.

In Yobe State, the government imposed a 24-hour curfew on three towns -Potiskum, Gashua, and Nguru After protests against hunger and hardship descended into chaos.

The curfew, announced in Damaturu, the state capital, yesterday by Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters, Brig.-Gen. Dahiru Abdulsalam, noted that the aims of the curfew is to stem the tide of violence and looting that has left a trail of destruction in its wake. Residents were directed to stay at home, while security forces have been deployed to enforce the curfew and restore order.

However, the decision of the Borno State Government to impose its own curfew was primarily as a result of the detonation of an improvised explosive device in Kawori Market, Konduga area of the state, on Wednesday night, by a Boko Haram suicide bomber, which left 19 people dead. Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Nahum Kenneth Daso, disclosed this in a press release yesterday.

…Immigration officer mistakenly shoots self in Borno

Also a report out of Borno indicated that an immigration officer accidentally shot himself thrice on the foot yesterday while blocking protesters in Maiduguri, the state capital.

The incident happened in the Bulunkutu area of Maiduguri It was learnt that the Immigration officer was part of the security team deployed to disperse crowd of protesters in the state capital. The officer, whose identity has not been disclosed, was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment.

One of the protesters told newsman that the sound of the gunshots further provoked the protesters who went wild with the thought that one of them was shot but became calm on discovering that it was an Immigration personnel that was shot.

Some of the protesters were demonstrating against the government’s handling of the ongoing insurgency in the region and urged Federal Government to bring back the fuel subsidy.

…teargas in Lagos, Abuja

However, while the protests also took place in Lagos and Abuja, the epicentres of the #EndSARS riots, these were mainly peaceful although the police eventually resorted to the use of teargas to dispel the activists at the Lekki Toll Plaza in Lagos and in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) when some of them attempted to enter the Three Arms Zone to present their case to the National Assembly.

…Rivers, Edo govs address protesters

In Rivers and Edo states, Governors Siminalayi Fubara and Godwin Obaseki left their respective government houses to address the protesters and appeal to them to remain peaceful. It is, however, not yet clear if the protests will continue today and which direction it will take.

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