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- Women, youths block major highways,
- Protesters engage police in a fierce battle
From John Adams Minna
Women and youths in their hundred on Monday morning trooped to the major highways in Minna, the Niger State capital to protest the current hardship and the continue rise in the price of food stuff in the market, saying that the situation is no longer bearable.
They also said the growing level of insecurity in the state and the county in general has made lives miserable for the ordinary Nigerians, adding that farmers can not longer go to their farms, children forced out of school by Bandits and the highways are no longer save.
All the major highways leading to and from Minna, the state capital, were completely blocked by the protesters, bringing vehicular movement to a standstill.
Students, civil servants, making way to their schools and offices, including other business owners were turned back by the protesters who blocked the highways with heavy stones, empty drums and woods, chanting “we no go gree for anybody”.
The protest which was started by mostly women and their children who occupied the highways as early as 7:00am was later taken over by the youths in their large numbers.
The placards carrying protesters with various inscriptions, some of which reads, “we are dying in hunger”, “food stuff no longer affordable for the common man”, “APC government has brought hardship to Nigerians”, “Bandits have taken over Nigeria”, among others, asked every passerby to join them rather than going to their place of or business.
Some of the protesters who spoke to our correspondent vowed that the protest will continue everyday until the current hardship is addressed by the government, adding that “this is Enough”.
“This is just the beginning of this protest and we will not stop until the government do something about this hardship. We are tired, people are hungry and are dying everyday.
“This continue rise in food price is no longer bearable, there is hardship everywhere in the country. Ordinary Nigerians can no longer afford three square meals and the government does not care about what is happening.
“The leaders are only stealing the money in other to cope with the current situation not that they have solutions to it.
“Apart from the hardship, the insecurity has assumed a different dimension, the Bandits have chased farmers out of their farms, they have taken over Nigeria. People are being kidnapped from their houses in the night and the roads are not safe.”
However an attempt by the anti-riot policemen deployed to disperse the protesters was heavily resisted by the angry looking and determined youths as they engaged the police in a fierce battle, forcing the security agents to make a retreat.
Several gun-shots were fired into the air by the anti-riot policemen in an attempt to scare the protesters but that however could not change the situation as the protesters remained adamant.
No statement from either the government or the state police command on this development as at time of filing this reports.
