Days after hunger protest

From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja

Days after the hunger protest, Abuja residents are still counting their losses and wounds inflicted on them by thugs and criminals. The protest, which started peacefully, at Eagle Square, suddenly took a malignant posture when  the law enforcement agents introduced force and teargas.

So, instead of gathering at Eagle Square and proceeding to the National Assembly where they intended to lay their complaints, they spread to  local councils where thugs and criminals hijacked the process.

For six  or seven days the protest lasted, the economy of the city dipped because civil servants, artisans and traders on daily pay were prevented from going for their businesses. Shops and markets, were compelled to shut down. Banks and even airports  shunned their customers, forcing hunger and frustration upon the citizens.

The criminals who took over the show not only looted citizens’ property and vandalised critical national assets and infrastructure of the government, they also harassed, intimidated and inflicted pains and injuries on innocent residents.

Despite an order by Justice Sylvanus Oriji, Federal High Court Abuja, restricting the protesters  to the MKO Abiola Stadium, the protesters went ahead to demonstrate their anger in a very virulent manner. The hitherto benign  city of Abuja  suddenly became a theatre of war and anarchy.

Fear was the order of the day. The most hit were the workers of the informal sector on daily pay, who stayed at home in hunger and frustration. It was the survival of the fittest. Residents told Daily Sun that they are yet to recover from their losses.

Madam Nana Patience Dashe trades on children’s wares (okirika clothes or bend-down boutique). Together with her five children (who were on holiday) stayed at home and starved for the period the protest lasted: “We were at home. I go to Nyanya market to sell my clothes and  look for what my children will eat. But for that period ‘we no sell anything.’ We were sterved for the period.”

Ahmedu Sani operates at Kugbo Mechanic, did not go to shop because his area was a war zone: “Soldiers mounted a roadblock in front of Kugbo Mechanic Workshop to prevent the protesters from spreading. The action infuriated the ‘area boys’ the more and they  became more  violent.

“Throughout the protest, I didn’t go to work and I didn’t make money. My family really suffered. But I thank God the protesters didn’t enter our shops because of the soldiers who mounted a roadblock there. Kugbo was their main target.”

The Civil Society Organisations (CEO), blamed  the security personnel for the mismanagement of the #Endbadgovernance protest in Abuja. Co-ordinator, Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA), Emma Onwubiko, said:

“The security personnel in the  Federal Capital Territory (FCT)  did not manage the protest professionally. If there were commercial losses,  Nigerians should blame the security organisations because they were not professional. On  the political side, they equally did not handle it properly, otherwise there wouldn’t have been violence and looting.

“Basically, people’s protest is allowed under the law. There is no law that allows vandalism. That is a pure crime. The government didn’t handle the protest well, too. For instance, when the organisers sought for permission to use certain venues,  the government should have allowed them to use the venue instead of going to court to  obtain injunction.

“And the court gave an injunction to faceless people. How can  a court give an injunction against unknown protesters? That makes the whole thing abnormal. The blame is enough to go round.”

Director of Communications, Child and Gender Rights Advocate, Lemmy Ughegbe,  was emphatic on the use of live bullets against Abuja protesters: “There have been denials by the police that they didn’t use live bullets. But we, in the civil society space, know that they used a lot of live bullets.

“In some places in Abuja where there was peace, it was the police that provoked action of violence by attacking protesters who were peaceful at some point, especially at the Eagle Square, the beginning of the protest. Residents were not so confident to go about their businesses. They were not sure what could happen.

“Therefore, they preferred to stay in the comfort of their homes hoping that their homes were safe. The majority  of the people in the informal sector are on daily pay. The woman who sells groundnut and the woman who sells pepper could not go out to the market to sell.

“It means that their livelihoods were  affected. To that extent,  it is worrisome because the hunger protest,  otherwise known as #Endbadgovernance, protest, was intended not to worsen the plight of the people.

“The other day, there was shooting around Area 10 UTC axis. So, people are still afraid.  This morning (Saturday) I saw them (police) barricading Berger Roundabout. Does this make people have a sense of security?

“There should be a 21st century compliant policing rather than make people have a sense of fear and terror. They (the police) should give them  a sense of assurance. Nobody wants to be gunned down by stray bullets.”