No fewer than 14 people, including protesters and a policeman, yesterday lost their lives on the first day of the protest against hardship in the country.
Those killed included six at Suleja in Niger State; four in Maiduguri, Borno State; three in Kaduna State; and one in Kebbi State.
Aside from those killed during the protest, a curfew was also declared in Borno and Kaduna states, as the protests, which started on a peaceful note, turned violent later.
Clashes between the police and protesters were equally recorded in Abuja, Delta and Bayelsa states but the protest was largely peaceful in Lagos, Oyo and Osun states while no protest was held in Ondo state.
WE’RE READY FOR DIALOGUE —FCT MINISTER
Reacting to the protest in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, again called on those protesting against President Bola Tinubu’s government to come for dialogue, saying the government was ready to listen to them and also walk them through some governance issues they might not have been privy to.
He spoke while presenting staff of office to the four newly appointed graded chiefs of Karu, Kwali, Pai and Yaba in the territory.
Commending protesters in the FCT for being non-violent, Wike urged them to continue to resist those who would want to destroy the nation.
He said: “Let me take this opportunity to commend the people, the youths of Abuja for not being violent. We have said severally that it is better to dialogue with the government and keep the peace. He who makes peace will at the end of the day enjoy the dividends of peace.
‘’I still want to talk to our people that we are still ready to sit down and dialogue with them and let them know things that they may not know because information is power. I commend the protesters in Abuja who have refused to be violent.’’
In Lagos, the protest was generally peaceful as security agents, led by the police, led the protesters in a process from Ikeja to Ojota, the venue designated by a court order two days earlier.
The protesters put forward what they described as a non-negotiable 15-point demand before the government for the protest to be called off.
The demands include:
•Scrap the 1999 Constitution and replace it with a people-made constitution for the Federal Republic of Nigeria through a Sovereign National Conference.
•Toss the Senate arm of the Nigerian Legislative System, keep the House of Representatives (HoR), and make lawmaking a part-time endeavour.
•Pay Nigerian workers a minimum wage of nothing less than N250,000 monthly.
•Invest heavily in education and give Nigerian students grants, not loans. Aggressively pursue free and compulsory education for children across Nigeria.
•Release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu unconditionally and demilitarise the South-East. All EndSARS and political detainees must also be released and should be compensated.
•Renationalise all public-owned enterprises sold to government officials and cronies.
•Reinstate a corruption-free subsidy regime to reduce hunger, starvation and multidimensional poverty.
•Probe past and present Nigerian leaders who have looted the treasury, recovered their loot, and deposited it in a special account to fund education, healthcare, and infrastructure.
•Restructuring of Nigeria to accommodate Nigeria’s diversity, resource control, decentralization and regional development.
•End banditry, terrorism, and violent crimes; Reforms of security agencies to stop continuous human rights violations and duplication of security agencies and enhance the physical security of Nigerian citizens.
•Establish a Special Energy Fund immediately to drive massive, corruption-free power sector development.
•Immediate reconstitution of the Nigerian Electoral Body @inecnigeria to remove corrupt individuals and partisan-backed appointments to manipulate elections.
•Massive investment in public works and industrialization will help employ Nigeria’s teeming youths.
•Massive shake-up in the Nigerian judiciary to remove cabals of corrupt generations of judges and judicial officers that continue denying everyday citizens across to real justice.
•Diaspora voting.
TINUBU, WIKE MEET IN ASO ROCK AMID PROTESTS
Meanwhile, amid the protest yesterday, President Bola Tinubu met with the Minister of the FCT, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Wike, dressed in a white suit, drove into the State House, Abuja, in a Prado SUV for the meeting with President Tinubu at about 4 pm.
Although the agenda of the meeting was not made public at the time of sending this report, it may be in connection with the ongoing protests in the nation’s capital which turned violent in some areas.
The protest which the organisers had said would be peaceful, turned violent in some areas at the seat of power.
Miscreants also had a field day in some parts of the FCT as they harassed and extorted motorists and passersby, especially in Kubwa expressway axis.
