The Federal Capital Territory Commissioner, Benneth C. Igweh, has led a group of police officers who cracked down on protesters and arrested over five of them.
The protest is against economic hardship but the government had restricted the aggrieved Nigerians from protesting at the Eagle Square or areas near the Federal Secretariat Complex, Federal Ministry of Finance among other government establishments.
The protesters carried different placards with inscriptions like ‘#End Bad Governance’: ‘Tinubu Let Nigerians Breathe’ and ‘Make Lawmaking A Part Time Job’ among others.
But the situation went out of control at the heart of Nigeria’s capital when the protesters at Ralph Shodeinde Street and Sani Abacha Way- locations of government ministries defied the police directive.
NewsNGR witnessed several arrests of protesters on the directive of the police CP who led the mission. A police helicopter was also deployed to scare the protesters.
Several protesters were seen with injuries during the clampdown.
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, had warned that the government will not condone protest.
“If the FCT is working, why are you telling the residents to come and protest? We quite appreciate the level of hunger but we have said it is better for us to sit down and talk about it than to give room for hooligans to perpetrate crimes against innocent Nigerians.
“No right-thinking government will fold its arms and allow people to cause mayhem, destroy properties, and then we go back to square one,” Wike told reporters.