Some aggrieved protesters on Wednesday stormed the Department of State Services office in Jos over prolonged questioning of former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr Obadiah Mailafia.
The invitation is not unconnected to a recent interview he granted an Abuja radio station, 95.1FM.
Bearing placards with inscriptions such as ‘Stop the killings, free Mailafia’, ‘Stop the killings and free OBED Mailafia,’ among others, the protesters demanded the immediate release of Mailafia.
Nurses in the employ of the Ondo State Government-owned University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital, Akure, on Thursday protested against the nonpayment of their five months salary arrears.
The nurses, carrying placards with various inscriptions, condemned the State Government’s response on their plight.
One of the protesters who spoke on condition of anonymity said: ‘From June 2019, some nurses were employed in batches due to shortage of members of staff. Following the employment, the newly employed nurses saw themselves working for six months, five months, four months and three months depending on the batch of employment they belonged to without being paid.
‘These nurses were there during the outbreak of Lassa fever and the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the State and they risked their lives despite not being paid.
‘Shortly after, the salaries started being paid haphazardly with a month salary paid after every two to three months. So, many of these professional nurses had to start borrowing to even get to work and meet up with other needs.
‘As it stands now, five months salaries are still being owed without any hope of being paid. All their efforts to demand for their salaries were sabotaged. Worthy of note is that a good number of these new nurses tested positive for COVID-19 despite not being renumerated. Asides these, the single and double qualified nurses in the same institution experienced massive salary slashes earlier this year,’ the protester said.
The protesters called on the State Government to pay their salaries through the central account.
‘This is greatly needed because the UNIMEDTHC management keep faulting the release of subventions by the government,’ the protester added.
The nurses demanded the prompt payment of all outstanding salaries and arrears, regularisation of the slashed salaries, provision of Personal Protective Equipments (PPE) and adequate equipments to work with.
Pro-democracy and Human rights group, Concerned Nigerians have condemned the arrest, harassment and dehumanization of #RevolutionNow protesters in Abuja and other parts of the country.
The group in a press statement by its spokesperson, Agada Abu Theophilus, condemned the high-handedness and unprofessional handling of protesters by security forces.
“We condemn in its entirety, the arrest and harassment of Revolution Now Protesters in Abuja and other parts of Nigeria. We are worried that our rights as citizens of Nigeria to freely assemble and protest against maladministration, bad governance and insecurity in the country is no longer guaranteed.”
“At a time where Democracy is being entrenched and strengthened all over the world, Nigeria is sliding back into the dark days of military regime where citizens are being hounded and afraid to ask salient questions as to how they should be governed.”
“Nigeria has become a nation where bandits who have killed thousands of citizens are being rehabilitated and reintegrated into the society with so many privileges while those asking questions and demanding good governance are being treated like common criminals.”
“Protests are a catalyst for social change, and are essential for citizen participation in a democratic state. Freedom to protest gives individuals and groups to share their views and interests, express dissent, and make demands of government.”
“The Revolution Now group is advocating for an Economic freedom for all, an end to incessant killings in the country, equal opportunity for every Nigerian, free education for all, Living wage and an end to impunity by people in government. These demands are not out of place and shouldn’t be seen as treasonable felony or act of terrorism.”
“The Nigerian government must understand that there’s no other way to describe an act of terrorism than the weaponization of poverty by the ruling class. The Security agents that are being used to hound innocent Nigerians should know that the economic freedom and equal opportunity that Revolution Now group are demanding for, is for the good of all and they are not immune from the systemic failure that the group wants an end to”.
“Finally, it’s never too late for the Nigerian government to stop its disdain for rule of law and their gross disrespect for the rights of citizens to freely assemble and express themselves”.
Myriad of youths in Ogidi community, Idemili North Local Government Area, Anambra state have protested death of a youth leader in the area, Chike Okoye.
The deceased reportedly died attempting to dodge arrest of police officers who stormed his Umueze Alor village over alleged land tussle between the community and the Traditional Ruler, Igwe Alex Oyido.
The youths had obstructed the ever-busy Onitsha-Enugu old road and made bon-fires with used tyres to express their grievances.
The protesters who were said to have marched to the deceased house to demand for the corpse, later headed to the mortuary after they were told the corpse had already been deposited at the morgue.
The youths later took the corpse and deposited it at the palace of the monarch.
Speaking to newsmen on the incident Saturday, Chairman of the village and leader of the protesters, Mr Obide Benedith linked the death to the community’s land which he alleged the monarch encroached into without their consent.
Benedith, who spoke in company of his vice, Nonso Agbata, said, “Asking why such should be done, he started arresting those who are out to oppose him, including myself, the deceased, my vice and others.
“We have dumped the corpse in his palace and demanded that he should release those he arrested, stop encroaching on our land and arresting us before the corpse will be removed.
“It was the police that the monarch sent that held him as he was about to evade arrest in his house and was pushed down from the storey building and he died.”
Reacting, the monarch, who spoke through Ugochukwu Okwosa Owelle called for calm, pledging amicable resolution to the matter.
“What you people are doing now is worsening the situation, I plead that we discuss as brothers for the good of us all,” he said.
President of the community, Chuka Onubogu, who later arrived the palace and took the corpse back to the morgue, described the incident as unfortunate and unintentional, urging the bereaved to take heart.
He however promised soon release of those still under detension, saying, “I have talked with the CP and he assured me that they will be released immediately.”
When contacted, Police spokesperson, Haruna Mohammed said the deceased died after jumping from a fence in an attempt to evade arrest.
He however said normalcy had returned to the area as a team of police officers were deployed immediately to quel the situation.
Women Protest in Zangon Kataf over Herdsmen attack enters day two on Thursday. This time, the women decided to go nude.
The women who visited the palace of the Paramount chief of the Atyaps (Kataf) carried placards and leaves chanting “enough is enough”.
Details soon…
![[Video] Protest rocks Sabon Garki market in Kano State](https://thenewsguru.ng/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/109834226_2376370112656674_6567852779092390497_n.jpg)
Protesters gathered at Sabon Gari market in Kano state on Monday, July 20, to protest against the demolition of roadside shops in the area. Aggrieved protesters set up bonfires on the road preventing movement. Security forces have been deployed to the area. Protests in the region have previously turned violent, especially if security forces fire live ammunition in an attempt to disperse protesters.
Video:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CC3dnqHDhX5/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Some well-meaning Nigerian youths say they have uncovered a clandestine move by Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) spokesman, Ikenga Ugochinyere, and some governors to mobilize youths across the country to cause an Arab Spring protest to destabilize the government of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The youth groups, totaling 50, under the auspices of Coalition of Nigerian Youths Groups (CNYG), though, vowed to resist a repeat of the wild anti-government protests, uprisings, and armed rebellions that cut across the Arab world in the early 2010s.
Led by Comrade Ibrahim Kabiru Dallah, the groups at a press conference in Abuja on Saturday said parts of the series of activities lined up for the evil agenda is to protest against the Security and Service Chiefs, blackmail top Buhari appointees with phantom corruption allegations and call for their resignation which after done will usher in officers that will be unable to curtail the protests across the country.
At that stage, the CNYG disclosed that most of their job is already completed as the protesters would freely pounce and hijack the government and install their paymasters.
Recall that Ugochinyere was recently arrested and released over a 4-count charge bordering on defaming Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila and the entire House of Representatives.
He had accused the leadership of the house of collecting $10 million bribe from the Bill Gates Foundation to pass the infectious disease control bill.
And according to CNYG, two oppoition governors, Nyesome Wike of Rivers State and Governor Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto are aiming to exploit his new found fame to upstage the ruling government.
The groups added that the aim is to overwhelm the security architecture of the country and then blame the government for not doing enough to safeguard Nigeria.
CNYG, therefore, challenged the security agencies to bring Ikenga, his cohorts and sponsors to book before it is too late.
The group, however, warned that it will remain resolute, not allowing some selfish and narrow-minded people to drag the entire country into a mess.
Protesters numbering hundreds on Monday afternoon grounded activities at the secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC), demanding immediate dissolution of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) among others.
Bearing posters with various inscription like ‘the current NWC has destroyed our party‘, ‘The NWC has divided the party and highly uncoordinated, we want it dissolved’ ‘NWC must go’, ‘the current NWC is our biggest problem’,’ ‘NWC is a disgrace, we have lost confidence in it’ among others, they had barricaded the entrance to the secretariat and blocked the road, slowing vehicular movement.
Speaking to newsmen during the peaceful protests, the convener of the group, Concerned APC Member, Okpokwu Ogenyi, threatened to take the protest to other parts of the country should the NWC members fail to leave the party, tagging the NWC monumental failure.
Details shortly…
The wave of mass protests against racism and police violence has not resulted in a significant increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S., media reported, citing preliminary studies.
In Minnesota, which is the epicentre of the protests, 1.8 per cent of 3,200 protesters, who tested for COVID-19 at community sites, turned out to be infected with the coronavirus, The Wall Street Journal reported on late Thursday.
Some 8,500 other Minnesota protesters tested through their health-care providers or at other sites, and only 0.99 per cent of them were diagnosed with COVID-19.
Within the past seven days, the percentage of positive COVID-19 tests in New York has remained below 3 per cent, with the number of hospitalised patients continuing to decrease.
The authorities of Seattle and Chicago have also said that no major outbreaks of the coronavirus disease have been registered so far.
Nationwide protests against racism and police violence were originally sparked after George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American, died in Minneapolis on May 25, after a white police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes.
![Tired of killings: Angry protesters burn President Buhari’s billboard in Katsina [Video]](https://thenewsguru.ng/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/screenshot-www.instagram.com-2020.06.09-16_48_01.png)
Tired of killings in their community, furious residents of Yantumaki town, Danmusa local government area of Katsina State on Tuesday burned a huge billboard of President Muhammadu Buhari and the logo of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to reports, the aggrieved residents were protesting against the attacks and killings by bandits in the state.
Watch video:
Recall that Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari had announced that his administration had pulled out of the peace deal with bandits.
The state government had entered a peace agreement with the gunmen. But despite the accord, communities in Katsina are still being attacked and residents killed.
On June 1, bandits shot dead 60-year-old Abu Atiku, district head of Yantumaki.
The gunmen also attacked some communities in Batsari LGA of the state and killed the council’s APC chairman.
The protesters reportedly barricaded the Katsina/Kankara major highway and blocked the road leading to the town.
They were said to have been enraged by the kidnap of one Mansir Yusuf and his daughter by bandits around 1 am on Tuesday.