From John Adams, Minna
What started as a peaceful protest by fish vendors in Suleja, the headquarters of Suleja local government area of Niger State on Thursday was hijacked by hoodlums who took the advantage of the protest to loot and steal foodstuffs from Abuja bound trucks.
The trailers were said to ran into the protesters and was held up in the traffic gridlock as a result of the protest along the ever busy Abuja-Kaduna highway in Gauraka town, a suburb of Suleja when the hoodlums unleashed terror and looted the entire trucks
It was learnt that the fish sellers were protesting the sudden increase in the price of a carton of frozen fish which they said jumped from N34,000 to N48,000 making it difficult for several of them to get the desired quantity they wanted.
The fish sellers which included women, began the protest at about 10:00am and walked through the road causing traffic holdup on the ever-busy highway but was later hijacked by hoodlums who sighted the foodstuff carrying trucks on the traffic.
The youths stormed a vehicle loaded with pineapples and other fruits and tried to loot it but the driver was able to maneuver his way from the traffic gridlock and escaped from the scene.
According to an eyewitness account, the youth then quickly moved to some trailers loaded with foodstuff, including rice and spaghetti and looted everything in the truck as the driver watch helplessly.
It took the intervention of soldiers and other security agents who shot sporadically into air on arrival at the scene to bring the situation under control as the looters took to their heels with their looted items.
The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Wasiu Abiodun who confirmed the incident said that the security agencies were able to bring the situation under control.
“There was a protest this morning along Kaduna Road, Suleja, and the protest plan was not communicated to the police. It was later discovered to be hijacked by some miscreants who blocked the highway.
“Area commander Suleja, ACP Sani Musa, mobilized patrol teams to the scene, dispersed the protesters, and the highway was cleared for free flow of traffic. However, monitoring continues”, he said.
It would be recalled that two weeks ago, the youths in the local government wanted to protest over the current hardship in the country but the intervention of elders in the local government saved the situation.