By Princess Simon (Bureau Chief North Central, in Minna)
Niger state police command said it has arrested twenty-five persons, including three females regarding the Monday morning violent protest over the rising cost of living, insecurity causing general socio-economic hardship.
Thousands of protesters made up of mostly male and female youths mobilized themselves and blocked the entry and exit points along the Minna-Bida road and Kpakungu round-about protesting against the daily increase in prices of food items, insecurity and general hardship in the country.
A statement on Wednesday, February 7, 2024 by DSP Wasiu A. Abiodun, the Niger State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), for the Commissioner of Police Niger State Command, said the initiator of the protest, 30 years old, Aisha Jibrin and 24 others are in their custody for offences relating to the protests.
The police also said efforts made by the command to persuade the protesters to end the siege proved abortive. “The Command drafted Police patrol teams led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Operations to the scene, and after much persuasions, the protesters refused to clear the road for public use.
“The Deputy Governor of Niger State, Comrade Yakubu Garba, equally availed himself at the scene and addressed the group, yet they turned deaf ears and chose to be violent”, adding that the police decided to adopt minimum force to disperse the protesters who turned violent by attacking the Police with dangerous weapons such as stones, bottles, sticks and cutlasses leading to the damage of patrol vehicles and parts of the Kpakungu Division roof.
“Police arrested the initiator of the protest one, 30 years Aisha Jibrin, Fatima Aliyu 57 years, Fatima Isyaku 43 years all of Soje 'A' of Kpakungu area of Minna and twenty-two other miscreants with dangerous weapons”, the statement further said.
Items recovered from the protesters, according to the statement, includes; one bench and a stick used as barricade, three knives, one scissors, one cutlass, one saw blade, one iron pipe, four sticks, two wraps of Indian hemp and assorted charms.
During interrogations, Aisha, according to the statement, claimed that she was not aware that her action was illegal by mobilizing the women for the peaceful protest which was later hijacked by miscreants in the area to block the highway.
Meanwhile, all the suspects have been taken to State Criminal and Investigative Department (SCID) Minna for further investigation and they will be charged to Court after arrest of others identified to have participated in the violent protest. NNL.