The police command deployed anti-riot police in major public places in Jigawa State and dispersed dozens of people, mostly youth, who gathered at the entrance of the Three Arms Zone in Dutse, the state capital, to hold an anti-peace demonstration against hunger and economic hardship.
The Tribune Online gathered that the police, in their large number, also patrolled the city and prevented the protesters from re-grouping anywhere to hold the planned peaceful event organised by civil societies, political groups, and some members of the public in Jigawa State.
Hundred anti-riot police squads were stationed at various strategic locations around Dutse capital to block the protest from taking place.
According to the spokeswoman of the state police command, DSP Shisu Lawal Adam, police saw the announcement of the protest on social media, and going by the public comments, there is a tendency to have a total breakdown of public peace and order if allowed.
He said an intelligence gathering has proved that some miscreants have planned to hijack the demonstration if it starts; therefore, as a proactive measure, police have urged the organisers to suspend it.
Contacting one of the organisers, the Chairman of the SAWABA Initiative for Humanitarian Development, Comrade Bashir Alkasim, said that less than 10 hours before the commencement of the protest, police invited them for discussion.
He explained that the state police commissioner requested that they postpone the demonstration due to some issues around public security, and we have no choice but to succumb to security pressure and withdraw our plan.
Comrade Bashir explained that they wanted to hold a peaceful demonstration to call the attention of federal state and local governments to the current Hunger crisis, social and economic difficulties in the country, and the need for the authorities to do what is necessary to rescue the situation that keeps degenerating day by day
” Since the removal of the foil subsidy, the country claimed to have gotten more money and shared it, but what only reflected on the lives of civil servants and other common people was an increase in hardship, poverty, hunger, and other social and economic difficulties.
” We are calling on President Bola Tinibu to review his economic policy to align it with the needs and welfare of Nigerians rather than foreign interests. The local government’s financial autonomy shall also be revisited and granted fully.
“At the Jigawa state level, we are calling on the state governor, Malam Umar Namadi, to increase the worker’s wage award from the proposed N10,000 to N30,000, which shall be paid before Ramadan.”.
Those are some of the demands we intended to demonstrate, according to the Nigerian Constitution, but as the police forced us to suspend them, we succumbed and cancelled them. However, we look for another time and avenue to voice our mind,” Comrade Bashir declared.
and then