Another protest rocks Abuja over Rivers rerun

BARELY 48 hours after a protest rocked Abuja over legislative re-run election in Rivers State, yet another set of protesters took to the streets on Thursday, calling on the Attorney General of the Federation and Minster of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of killings that took place during the poll.

The protesters under the aegis of Coalition of Concerned Civil Society Organisation of Nigeria took off at the Eagles Square and terminated at the Federal Ministry of Justice.

They carried placards with various inscriptions which included, “Killers must be brought to book‎”, “Gov. Nyesom Wike must face the law, killing must stop in Rivers state, justice must prevail” and “We stand by the Nigerian police.

At the Ministry of Justice, National President of the group, Yusuf Nadabo, stated that the only way to ensure democratic stability in the country was to ensure conduct of a peaceful election.

He‎ noted that the essence of the protest was to say no to impunity and electoral violence.

According to him, what happened during the rerun election must not be allowed to happen again.

He said, “As citizens of this country who practice democratic exercise, we should as a matter of fact conduct our electoral processes peacefully and freely so that it can be acceptable by the citizens of this country.

“We have held election in the recent history, we have held election in Edo and Ondo states‎, these elections were conducted peacefully and they were accepted

“Some thugs were instigated to come and do all sort of dubious act there, some of which were arrested. That is why we came to the Ministry of Justice so that the AGF can prosecute these people with immediate effect

“It is enough. We cannot continue to have our security personnel killed. A DSP was beheaded alongside his ADC, many civilians were killed and nobody is a saying anything. These thugs who were responsible for this must be prosecuted and brought to book.

“If we want to ensure democratic stability in this country, we must, as a matter of urgency, conduct a peaceful election, we cannot allow such dubious act in any exercise,” he said.

Receiving the protesters at the ministry, the Director of General Service at the ministry, Mr Dicks Dikibujiri‎, commended the protesters for conducting themselves in a peaceful manner.