Sophia Michaels
The PUNCH reports that the protest by workers in Maiduguri, Borno State, Wednesday, was restricted to just about a quarter of a kilometer to forestall a breach of the fragile security in the state.
The protest procession that started at 10 am from the Secretariat of the NLC in Maiduguri to the main entrance of the New GRA, popularly called NUJ Gate, was halted by a police personnel security barricade.
Earlier, and a few meters from the NLC Secretariat, the protesters were initially stopped at a small barricade by policemen but were allowed to proceed.
However, on reaching the main security barricade at NUJ Gate in Maiduguri, the protesting workers turned back and matched back to the NLC Secretariat.
“We signed an agreement yesterday with the Police, DSS and other security agencies not to match beyond that point (NUJ Gate) to avoid miscreants infiltrating and hijacking the protest to breach the peace of the insecurity-vexed state,” Mamman Bukar, the Borno State NLC Vice Chairman, told the rather scanty crowd of workers at the NLC Secretariat at the end of just-about-an-hour peaceful protest.
“They (security agencies) drew our attention to the still very fragile security of the state, especially with the police currently battling with a group of miscreants called Mallians breaching security in the metropolis,” Bukar said.
“So this restriction should not be misunderstood as we (NLC and TUC) leaders selling out or trying to scuttle the protest,” he pleaded.
The peaceful protest, The PUNCH observed, was almost marred by very low attendance of the workers due to the high cost of transportation restring movement.
The protest ended by 10:30 am.
