Protesters returned to the streets of Abuja on Friday to demand an end to insecurity and economic hardship.
The Friday crowd in Abuja was much smaller than that of Thursday when hundreds of protesters expressed their grievances about the country’s cost-of-living crisis.
Thursday’s peaceful demonstration turned violent after the police fired tear gas at the protesters. Undeterred, many of the protesters returned on Friday.
The protesters, many of them young people, said they were frustrated by the country’s economic conditions and had vowed “days of rage” in demonstrations. The protests are scheduled to last for ten days.
Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES at the MKO Abiola Stadium on Friday, one of the protesters, Suwaiba Abdullahi, said she is “willing to sacrifice her life for the protests until the authorities listen to their pleas.”
Ms Abdullahi said her husband was killed recently in the northern part of the country and life has been so “miserable ever since.” The widow, who is a nursing mother, said she was arrested on Thursday, but she remained “undeterred”, which is why she returned to the protests shortly after regaining freedom.
“I am ready to die,” Ms Abdullahi continued, calling on the president to address “hunger and insecurity in the country.”
Nigerians chanting “we are hungry” marched through the streets of several cities on Thursday. Five states, Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Borno and Yobe, all in the northern parts of the country, imposed a 24-hour curfew after the protests turned violent.
On Friday, a heavy police and military presence was visible around the MKO Abiola Stadium in Nigeria’s capital, with officers in cars and trucks guarding the expressway that leads to the airport and the city centre.
A different set of protesters also gathered in Gwagwalada, where they temporarily blocked the Lokoja-Abuja expressway.
A combined team of security operatives later dispersed the scores of protesters by firing tear gas, eventually leading to the reopening of the major road for vehicular movement.
Some motorists had their cars smashed along Dagiri, Wazobia Park and SDP Junction, Channels TV reported.
It was reported earlier that the protesters are calling for the reversal of the fuel price hike, the restoration of affordable electricity tariffs, and the reduction of import duties to their previous rates.
The groups also demand the reversal of the hike in tertiary education fees by many institutions.
The protesters are also demanding full transparency and accountability in governance, including the public disclosure and reduction of public officials’ salaries and allowances and an emergency fund to support SMEs.
