The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Protesters

  • Egypt court postpones Morsi’s trial

    Egypt court postpones Morsi’s trial

    Egypt’s Cairo Criminal Court on Thursday again suspended the trial of ousted president Mohamed Morsi over charges of inciting the killing of protesters to study requests to change the judges panel.

    The defence counsel demanded that the court dissolves the judge’s panel, saying the current panel was biased.

    Morsi’s trials over espionage and jail break were also suspended for the same reason.

    Morsi and 14 other defendants are accused of inciting violence and ordering the killing of protesters outside the presidential palace in December 2012.

    The protest was against a controversial constitutional declaration decreed by Morsi allegedly giving him absolute power. The clashes there left at least eight people dead.

    He was also accused of espionage and spying for foreign groups including the Palestinian Hamas movement to support terrorism in Egypt.

    Morsi faces a fourth trial for insulting the judiciary, but no date has yet been announced for a court appearance.

  • Pro-Oduah protesters distrupt activities at Enugu Airport

    Business activities were temporarily halted at the weekend at the Akanu-Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, when hundreds of Igbo youths, under the aegis of Igbo Progressives Union (IPU) staged a peaceful protest against the calls for the sack of the Aviation Minister, Princess Stella Oduah.

    This followed the controversy on the purchase of N255 million bulletproof cars the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) bought for her.

    Also, the kinsmen of the embattled minister, led by High Chief George Nwabueze, absolved the minister of any wrongdoing in the purchase of the two cars.

    The protesters carried placards with various inscriptions, accusing an unnamed person of being behind the calls for the removal of the minister.

    The youths insisted that the intention of what they called the cabal was to stop Oduah from transforming the aviation sector.

    The group spoke through its leader, Emeka Agbo, a student of the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu.

    Agbo said Igbo youths would do anything to protect Oduah.

    He expressed dismay that some highly-placed individuals were bent on undermining the achievements of the minister.

    “This is a woman who has given the aviation sector a new face. Today, our airports can compete with other airports in foreign countries. Before she came to office, we were hearing about international airports but today, it has become a reality in Igbo land. We are ready to swim and sink with her,” Agbo said.

    The people of Ogbaru, led by their High Chief Nwabueze, said the battle was not about the minister but on the 2015 presidential election.

    Nwabueze alleged that some people were not comfortable with President Goodluck Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda and, therefore, ganged up to tarnish the image of his cabinet members.

    He said: “Their belief is that once she is out of the way, the old order would return, where they would continue to feather their nests.”

    According to him, those behind Oduah’s woes are not fighting for Nigeria, “neither are they fighting for the Nigerian people”.

    Nwabueze added: “The cars in question were procured by the NCAA as part of their operational vehicles and put in the pool of the agency. The cars are neither registered in the name of the minister nor that of the Ministry of Aviation. Our daughter is innocent in this whole campaign of calumny and we solidly stand by her. We also resist all attempts to pull her down for no justifiable cause.”

  • Protesters disrupt flight at Imo airport

    The Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport, Imo State was temporarily grounded yesterday by protesting women from Umuohiagu autonomous community in Ngor-Okpala Local Government Area.

    The women blocked the runway and the main entrance to the airport for over three hours, making it impossible for any aircraft to land or take off.

    The women, who stormed the airport with placards, reading: “Governor, leave Umuohiagu to choose their traditional ruler”; “We don’t want any imposition,” were protesting the alleged imposition of Justice Ambrose Egu as their ruler.

    Governor Rochas Okorocha announced the retired Chief Judge as the Eze-elect of the community.

    The leader of the women, Mrs. Benadin Igbokwe, said they were unhappy with the alleged imposition.

    She said the governor overlooked the process of selecting a ruler in the community, adding that Okorocha’s choice was unpopular with the people.

    She urged the governor to conduct a plebiscite if he was not satisfied with the process adopted by the community.

    Mrs. Igbokwe said the community would follow the established process in choosing its Eze.

    Airport security officials pacified the women to leave.

     

  • Trivial women protesters of Abuja

    Trivial women protesters of Abuja

    Last Monday, hundreds of market women under the aegis of the Market Women Association of Nigeria staged a protest to the National Assembly and Ministry of Education to put pressure on striking university teachers. The reason given by the women for the protest is, however, difficult to rationalise. According to them: “We are here to tell you (the person who received the protesters) we have done our investigation and seen that we can no longer keep our children in the house. What ASUU is looking for is for us to cut our heads and give them. You cannot compare federal and state universities… We trade to send our children to school. It took America 350 years to get there; hence we need to do things gradually. Let us repair our country. Our children have not been in school for the past four months. If the lecturers don’t do what is expected of them, we will go and close their schools…We took to the streets because ASUU has refused to have the face of humans. We are stakeholders because we are mothers. They should resolve this thing between them and government so that our children can go back to school.”

    Had the women discussed with their husbands and children before taking to the streets, it is unlikely their protests would be directed at ASUU, for ASUU is as much a victim as the idle students and longsuffering parents. The problem, notwithstanding the hysteria of paid and misguided students’ union leaders, is plainly the refusal of the government to honour agreements. What kind of character and principles are market women teaching their children when they sanction the breaking of agreements and contracts?

    The problem of education is of course much more complex than ASUU strike can resolve; but first, pressure should be applied in the right place in order not to leave us beaming like fools, and our mothers preening like drunken peacocks.

  • ‘Tanker drivers protest ex-chair’s ‘influence’

    •‘Protesters are bad losers

    Business activities at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) depot in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, were grounded yesterday, following a protest by members of the Petrol Tanker Drivers (PTD).

    They were protesting what they called the overbearing influence of their former Chairman Musa Plato.

    The protesters alleged that Plato could not account for the N18 million generated during his eight-year tenure, adding that he allegedly sold the only tanker the union was using to convey fuel from depots.

    But in a telephone chat with our reporter, Plato denied the allegations.

    He said the protesters were bad losers.

    The former union leader said there was an election in May in which his opponents lost. He alleged that this was the basis of their protest

    According to him, the allegation of selling the fuel tanker for N18 million is false.

    As earlier as 7am, the protesters took over the PTD office, opposite the NNPC Makurdi depot on the Makurdi-Enugu Road.

    They barricaded the road, making it impossible for motorists to pass through for some time.

    The protesters also prevented officials of the union from going into their offices.

    They sang solidarity songs and carried placards, some of which reads: “PTD is not a one-man show”; “we need quarterly report” and “Musa Plato, leave PTD alone”.

    The protester vowed to disallow the union officials from getting to their offices until the national secretariat of the PTD intervened.

    At press time, the protesters were still at the main entrance to PTD office. This forced those who wanted to transact businesses at the depot to retreat.

     

  • A voice from the street

    A voice from the street

    Protesters in the Middle East made history in 2011 when they toppled dictator after dictator in what is now referred to as the Arab Spring. From Tunisia, where it started, it spread to Egypt, Libya, Syria and other Arab countries giving voices to people who have hitherto had their voices muffled for decades. The voices came in different forms and shades, the biggest ever line up of Arabic rappers and the spirit and resilience of the Cairo youth made Friday, November 4, 2011 a special day as it brought together political dissidents rappers from Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan on Egyptian soil in order to remind the world that the struggle for freedom of expression and speech in the Middle East has just begun.

    In setting up the event, the organisers from ‘Turntables in the Camps and Immortal Entertainment’, wanted to remind their compatriots of the need for change in Egypt due to the persistence of corruption within the regime and the tight military control of all public events. As is the case with events of such nature that bring youths together, the authorities were jittery. At the scheduled hour of the start of the event, the Interior Minister ordered the Gezirah Youth Club in Cairo – who had lent its facilities to the organisers – to shut the gates and cancel the concert. As a result of this the organisers were forced to take the concert to different locations across Cairo which turned out to be a huge success as the domino effects led to the toppling of the regime of Hosni Mubarak. Egyptians are back on the streets again speaking in a showdown between the government and supporters of ousted President Muhammed Morsi.

    Everywhere we go the street has its own voice, it could be informed or uninformed, controlled or uncontrolled. But in the end, it speaks one way or another. We witnessed these voices after the annulment of the June 12, 1993 elections and the Occupy Nigeria movement against the hike in fuel price two years ago. In 1989, Nigerians trooped out in their millions in a spontaneous reaction against former military President Ibrahim Babangida’s Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). The voices from the streets forced him to give his SAP a “human face” less than a month after the demonstrations. I had an encounter last week which reminded me that the street still speaks today.

    I had gone to fix my car when one of my mechanics came to inquire if I still have the old tyres he replaced for me after buying new ones; I answered in the affirmative and asked what he wants to do with the old tyres. “I want to sell them” was his reply; I smiled inwardly and bemoaned our penchant for tokunbo things. That was when the story started rolling in. A month ago, my mechanic sold his tokunbo car to pay the school fees of two of his children in the university – one, a student of Usmanu Dan Fodio University, Sokoto and the other of Federal University of Technology, Minna – and now they are home doing nothing, so he’s raising money again to prepare for their return back to school hence the request for the old tyres.

    I was really impressed and took him aside so that we could discuss. I told him I was surprised that he could sell his car to pay his children school fees given the fact that most of those in his line of trade do not have long term vision because they live for the day. He told me it would be foolish of him having served “rich” and educated people in Adeniyi Jones Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos not to know the importance of education. “Sir, from my contact with my customers, and having observed their lifestyles I know education is very important that is why I’m challenged to give my children what I never had; if it’s even possible for me to sell myself I will to ensure they have a bright future. But I cannot understand why they keep sending them home all the time”.

    I had to explain, in layman’s term, the deadlock between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government regarding the current strike. When I pointed out that the government said it does not have the money to fund education the way ASUU wanted he was instantly taken aback as I saw it written over him as he tried to process what I just said. “Why would the government filled with many educated people not know the importance of education when an illiterate like myself can sell my car to pay my children’s school fees?”, was his question to me. I told him I wish I could give him a straight forward answer, but I couldn’t.

    We have thousands of parents like my mechanic who have staked all to give their wards a future they never had with the anticipation that with sound education they may be able to break new grounds, but unfortunately, the goal post keeps shifting as the elites keep finding means to solve their problems to the detriment of the sector. The voice of my mechanic is being echoed by other indigent parents who just want a future of less pain and despair for their wards; but we can all see that things are changing rapidly as Nigeria is on the route to a fully-fledged capitalist society where everyman is now for himself. And just like he pointed out, how could so many educated people in government not see the importance of education to development? Perhaps, just like I pointed out last week, maybe a fifth columnist is at work.

    Though the voice of my mechanic and the thousands of other voices I have not yet encountered may be muffled for now, they would not remain so for ever. No analyst predicted what happened in the Arab world in 2011, it started when a young Tunisian street vendor, Tarek al-Tayeb Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire on December 17, 2010, in protest of the confiscation of his wares and the harassment and humiliation that he reported was inflicted on him by a municipal official and her aides. His act became a catalyst for the Tunisian Revolution and the wider Arab Spring, inciting demonstrations and riots throughout Tunisia in protest of social and political issues in the country. The public’s anger and violence intensified following Bouazizi’s death, leading then-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to step down on January 14, 2011, after 23 years in power.

    But all we keep hearing is that it can never happen in Nigeria. Will anyone had predicted five years ago that we would be dealing with the Boko Haram security challenge today? Those playing politics and toying with the future of law abiding Nigerians who just want to live decent and honourable lives should not miss the point that the street is speaking, even though it is muffled for now.

    Re- The fifth columnist agenda

    Who is a fool? Tell me where you expect the likes of Obasanjo, Atiku and their ilk to get students into their universities if the federal ones are working? Do you need to be told that some of these ASUU members are feeding fat from all these? There is no problem in any form once Nigeria can boast of retired generals who are donating billions of naira to unnecessary causes and not to education. We have National Assembly members who are only interested in reviewing their salaries and allowances upward otherwise no bill would be passed. What a pity!

    Akinlayo A.

    I wonder why we have not revisited the ownership and structure of the universities as the cause of the problem. Attitude of academic staff is another issue. Students, Research and HR development are no longer the objective and one wonders about internal accounting and independent financial auditing of the university system.

    08065724207

    Sir, you hit the bull’s eye on the fifth columnist. The Federal Government is only ensuring compliance with the directives/dictates of the Bretton Woods institutions –that is, to ensure the death of universities and also the production of low cadre manpower. This has been ASUU’s grouse and war with government. I’m sure if all Nigerians join in the struggle, we will save the nation from bounty hunters who do not have any sense of nationalism. Come to think of it, what was the university like when most of these people in government were students? But now government cannot fund education!

  • Protesters clash in Edo over local govt polls

    Protesters clash in Edo over local govt polls

    •Accord: election was free

    • Why we lost, by PDP chieftain

     

    Three people were injured yesterday in various protests held in Benin City, the Edo State capital.

    There was a protest on the outcome of last Saturday’s local government elections and another on the non-inclusion of ex-militants in the Federal Government amnesty programme.

    The protesters were supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), supporters of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and some aggrieved “ex-militants”, who claimed to have been excluded from the third phase amnesty programme.

    PDP supporters began their protest at 7am, blocking major routes and made a bonfire at the King’s Square.

    They sang anti-ACN songs and vowed not to leave until the elections were cancelled.

    Some few minutes later, ACN supporters stormed the Square, praising Governor Adams Oshiomhole for conducting free and fair polls.

    The protests paralysed commercial activities around the Square and halted vehicular traffic as the two groups engaged one another in a free-for-all.

    Men of Operation Thunderstorm, the special security outfit, brought the situation under control.

    The group’s spokesperson, Abiodun Peter Eda, aka Kabiru, said they were certified and documented under the third phase of the Amnesty Programme but were yet to be absorbed.

    Abiodun said they would shut the operations of Dublin Oil at Gelegele, if they were not absorbed.

    “We don’t want to go back to crime. That is why today, we said we should come out and state our position. Today, they have attended to people from Delta, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa states with the exemption of Edo State.”

    But the Head of Media and Communications, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Daniel Alabrah, said the protesters were impostors.

    “We just finished our arms verification exercise. Where did they surrender theirs? I think they are making claims they cannot justify.

    “Some people who don’t have jobs submitted catapults and axes. They are now claiming to be ex-militants.

    “Where were they in October 2009 when the amnesty programme started?

    “Our verification committee has gone round and finished with the genuine militants who submitted and have been identified.”

    National Secretary of the Accord Party Samson Isibor has described the elections as “free, fair and credible.”

    Isibor, who doubles as the State Chairman of Coalition of Registered Political Parties (CRPP), described the late arrival of election materials as a human error.

    He said members of his party witnessed the distribution of electoral materials in remote villages such as Idibo, Udeni, Ewoghan in Uhunmwode local government.

    Isibor said the party’s candidate won the councillor’s seat in the locality and urged aggrieved parties to seek redress at the tribunal instead of causing political tension.

    Also, the Chairman of Edo is in Safe Hands, Washington Osa-Osifo, said the governor could not be blamed for EDSIEC’s inefficiency.

    A PDP chieftain, Aisulimen Ighodaro, has blamed the party leadership for the woeful performance in the elections.

    He said there were no strategies by the party leadership to win elections.

    The PDP chieftain said the resort to use youths to cause mayhem was a ploy to make the state ungovernable.

    Ighodaro, who spoke at a briefing yesterday, said the PDP has failed to win elections since the chairman, Dan Orbih, assumed office.

    The PDP chieftain said rather than blame the government for their failure, the party leaders should look inward and investigate why their members were leaving for the ACN.

    His words: “It saddens my mind that we are now crying foul after losing woefully, even when we know that we were not prepared for the election.

    “I advise our youths to shun Orbih and his desperate tactics. They should avoid being used as cannon fodder to settle political scores.”

     

  • Protesters block Eket-Ibeno Road

    Youths from Eket/Ibeno local governments of Akwa Ibom State yesterday blocked the Eket-Ibeno Road to protest its deplorable state.

    The road is being handled by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

    The protesters gave a two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government and the NDDC to mobilise workers to the site or risk total closure of the road.

    Speaking on behalf of the youths, the Ahafa Eket President, Emmanuel Sakey, said Governor Godswill Akpabio last year stopped Fountain Construction Company (FCC) from continuing the project, promising that within three months another firm will complete the project.

    Sakey said nothing has been done and no construction company is on the site.

    He said: “We are aggrieved because this is the only link road.

    “The delay in the execution of the project is from the governor and NDDC.

    “In my own assessment, the governor is not fair to us. There is no single road that has been built by the government in Ibeno.

    “Fountain Construction Company (FCC) has been building the road but the governor stopped them last year and nothing has been done since.

    “We are giving the government a two-week ultimatum to mobilise workers to site and if they fail to do that, we will block the road and stop Mobil workers from going to their operational base at Qua Ibom Terminal (QIT).

    “Two weeks from now, there will be no vehicular movement on the Eket-Ibeno road.”

    Commissioner for Information Aniekan Umanah said it was not true that the government neglected Ibeno people.

    He said Akapbio was concerned about the state of the road and would want to see it completed.

    “There is no question of neglect where the government built a new hospital for a local government which had no hospital.

    “Even when the government promised to complete the project, it is necessary for NDDC to hands off for the government to complete the project,” Umanah said.

  • Protesters disrupt UNICEM operations

    Some youths who claimed to be representing the host community of the United Cement Company (UNICEM) in Mfamosing, Cross River State, yesterday disrupted the company’s activities.

    The youths from Akamkpa and Akpabuyo local governments blocked the entrance of the company’s factory at Mfamosing as early as 6am.

    The protesters, under the aegis of Host Communities Youth Forum, alleged that the company had neglected the host communities.

    But the firm’s Corporate Affairs Manager, Ayi Ita-Ayi, said the protesters were jobless impostors and that the company would not want to join issues with them.

    Ita-Ayi said the company had over the years been dealing with the genuine leaders of host communities, adding that the protesters were amorphous.

    “If you go to the villages, you will see something different from what they are claiming. These protesters are amorphous and we would not want to join issues with them,” he said.

    Soldiers and riot policemen were deployed to disperse the protesting youths.

    The president of the Host Communities Youth Forum, Paul Effiong, alleged that the operation of UNICEM had adversely affected their communities and efforts to address the issues had been rebuffed by the company.

  • Protesters stone senator, PDP leaders in Delta

    Senator James Manager, representing Delta South, and other members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were pelted with stones at the weekend in Ekiugbo-Iyede community, Isoko North Local Government.

    The delegation, which includes Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Ovourzorie Macaulay; member representing Isoko in the House of Representatives Leo Ogor; Isoko representative on the State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) board Joe Ogeh and Tim Owhefere, visited the town “to thank the people for voting the PDP in past elections”.

    The visit kicked off from Ozoro to Ellu, Ofagbe, Okpe-Isoko, Otor-Iyede, where the dignitaries were received by thousands of dancing youths, women and party faithful.

    But in Ekuigbo-Iyede, the PDP leaders were heckled and came under a hail of stones, pebbles and chants of ijii, ijii, ijii (thieves, thieves, thieves) by the protesters.

    The protesters also carried placards, with inscriptions such as “PDP Leaders, You are disappointment; “Failious (sic)” and “Stop deceiving us”.

    One of the aggrieved protesters, who identified himself as Ejiro, said: “We are angry because these same politicians have spent many years in government, yet our lot has failed to improve.

    “Every year they come to dole pittance to us when they know election is near.

    “Ogor, for instance, has been in Abuja for nearly 16 years and yet no development.

    “Tim Owhefere (representing Isoko North) is also in his second term, yet no state or federal presence here.

    “Today, they came and gave us N500,000 to say thank you; how long is that going to last us?” he asked.

    The police were called in when the protesters started throwing pure water sachets and sticks at the politicians.

    The security operatives opened fire in the market square to disperse the protesters.

    But, Macaulay attributed the incident to money, saying: “Is there any society that if I throw N100, 000 up there wouldn’t be crisis?”

    Ogor, who is believed to be the object of the anger, said: “There is bound to be some disagreement in all situations of this nature; you can’t run away from the reality of that.

    “When you have 100 percent acceptability, you know there’s something wrong.

    “But as good leaders saddled with the responsibility of moving Isoko forward, we would hear some of those voices and be able to meet them at their points of need.

    “Because politics is all about resource sharing, probably they are not satisfied with the level of distribution of resources.”