Mass Anger

Protesters

Nigerians protest against federal government’s withdrawal of petrol subisdy funds amidst several botched truce meetings
By Stephen Ubanna
Abdulwaheed Omar, a former President of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), gained early fame as an activist within the local teacher’s union, but he is now at the centre of the current nation-wide protest as president of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC.
The NLC, is believed to be the largest trade union in Africa.
Omar came into limelight in 1999 when Adams Oshiomhole, led the Congress as President. and fought several battles against former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration. After serving his full term, Oshimhole left the union and went into politics, leaving the stage for Omar.
The face-off with the current administration is driven on three fronts- the NLC, Trade Union Congress, TUC, and civil society groups.
For the much younger Peter Esele, President, TUC, those close to him say he has a trenchant disposition to fighting long battles and is likely to insist on pulling the strings against the administration. Esele has combined well with Omar to insist that Labour would shut down the country, if the government insist on N141.00 as the new pump price of petrol instead of the old pump price of N65.00 per litre.
On Monday, January 9,2012, Labour mobilised Nigerians to the streets to protest the increase which was announced on January 1, 2012 by Reginald Stanley, Executive Secretary, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA,. The announcement, Labour believe was at the instance of President Goodluck Jonathan.
Last week Thursday which is Day Four of the nationwide strike and protest codenamed ‘Occupy Nigeria,’ was very decisive. Protests and rallies were intensified across the country and the heat was getting to Aso Rock despite contrary impression created in government owned media. David Mark, the Senate President who had met with representatives of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, 24 hours earlier also met with President Jonathan, setting in motion an expanded meeting between Labour, President Jonathan and his cabinet including governors.
Nigerians who had practically been at war with the President for about one week waited with bated breath for the outcome of the meeting where they had expected government to revert to the pre January 1, 2012 price of fuel. And despite the tension in the air, President Jonathan walked into the meeting room inside the villa, exchanging banters before setting down for the business of the evening. Five hours later, nobody was smilling, as the meeting ended in a stalemate with each party sticking to its guns.
Sources close to the meeting informed The Source that Labour insisted on reversal to N65, while the government is looking between N90 and N100 The meeting agreed to reconvene the next day, Saturday to explore further areas of compromise.
The government had made tremendous effort to stop the strike as it dragged Labour to the National Industrial Court but Labour spurned the court.
The government had reeled out the benefits that would be derived by taking out N1.3 trillion subsidy on petrol . The government believe that the money would help to rebuild the vast decaying infrastructure of the country.
The Source which monitored the strike found that it grounded the country for much of last week and put a halt to major business and economic activities across the country. Worse hit were Lagos, Kano, Abuja and Kaduna while financial institutions, Corporate Organisations, Markets were shut in solidarity with Labour.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy disclosed that the government lost N106 billion daily during the strike action.
Stephen Agbeluyi , an analyst disclosed that the loss to the government would have been more, if Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association, PENGASSAN and National union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers had joined the strike action.
Perhaps to avoid further damage to the economy, many eminent Nigerians intervened in the Labour –government feud including Second Republic President Shehu Shagari, and former President Olusegun Obasanjo . The duo prevailed on the President to retain the original pump price of petrol and ignore contrary counsel.
The National Assembly also intervened to save the situation from degenerating. Leading to the truce meetings.
Labour met with the Senate on Wenesday ,January 11 and the NLC President, described the meeting as very fruitful. The NLC boss described the meeting as the first leg towards finding solution to the crisis. Labour also met with the President in the evening of last Thursday in an effort to find a solution to the protests. The meeting dragged on late into the night but ended without agreement.
Labour had planned a peaceful protest throughout the country without loss of lives and property. Hatfiz Ringim, Inspector General of Police directed anti-riot police men drafted to monitor the protest across the country not to use live bullet on protesters. They were told to shoot on the air to scare protesters found to be behaving in violent manner but the strike recorded casualties.
By the third day of the strike , the Federal government issued a statement warning of criminal infiltration in the protests. Mohammed Bello Adoke, Attorney- General and Minister of Justice in the statement noted that ‘it has come to attention of the government that some persons or group of persons are perpetuating criminal activities under the guise of participating in the on-going demostration against the subsidy removal policy of the government’.
According to Adoke, ‘since the demonstration began on January 9, 2012, these persons have among other things engaged in arson,wanton destruction of lives and property, as well as making unguarded statements bordering on treason with a view to overwhelming the government’.
The Presidential Campaign offices of General Ibrahim Babangida rtd, who is a former Military President, Senator Dahiru Awaisu Kuta, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, headquarters in Minnna, Niger state were set ablaze. The protesters also destroyed several vehicles in the state secretariat. Babangida Aliyu the state governor was forced to impose a dusk-to-down curfew to maintain law and order. In the ancient city of Kano, the protest got out of control that Ringim, had to deploy surveillance helicopters to monitor the protesters to avoid total break down of law and order. The state governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso also imposed a dusk-to-down curfew in the state.
In Kaduna, protesters attempted to take over Government House, but were driven back by security operatives. Taking a queue from Niger state and others, Patrick Yakowa, the state governor was forced to declare protests in the state illegal.
In Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, the state government did not want to give room to Boko Haram insurgents to take advantage of the protests to cause mayhem in the state.
It issued a statement warning that based on threats and current security situation in parts of the state, a curfew is hereby imposed in council areas from 6 p.m to 6 a.m until further notice’. President Jonathan earlier declared a state of emergency in 15 local government areas in four states because of violent activities of the Boko Haram sect.
The governor vowed to deal with politicians and criminals who hide under the guise of the removal of fuel subsidy to forment trouble in the state.
Reacting to the violent protests and attacks on some innocent people in Edo state capital, Governor Adams Oshiomhole said: “We are ready to deal with any criminal. Anybody who is planning to forment trouble will be dealt with squarely, because politicians have hijacked this protest. They want to create problems”.
The Governor noted that Nigeria is one country, adding that wherever you live you are an indigene of that place.
“In Edo State, everybody is an indigene. You are free to live in Benin. Nobody can drive you from Edo State. You don’t have to be afraid. Those people who are behind this, we will fish them out and deal with them according to law”, he added.
Assuring them of protection, Oshiomhole assured that “the Army and the Police have been briefed to take adequate measures to protect lives and property.
“Nigeria is undergoing some difficulties. This time will come and go. We are one and the same. Nobody can own Nigeria more than the other. These people are not protesting over oil .Their motive is different. They plot mischief and spread fear in the land.” The governor said.
The army has also vowed to resist any breakdown of law and order as a result of the strike. Raphael Issa, Director, Army Public Relations who spoke to journalists in Abuja last Thursday assured that there was no threat to the unity and stability of the nation from any quarter. He added that the Army has set up 25 emergency response units to combat any threat that is beyond the power of the Police.
The protest was peaceful in Lagos. Protesters usually gather at Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park , Ojota, to listen to speeches from activists. Many of them wore vests with inscriptions, ‘ kill corruption not Nigerians’. They also carried placards with different inscriptions’. What started as a peaceful protest in Lagos turned bloody when the police shot at youths in Ogba.
Eye witness account said the victims were playing foot ball on the empty road when the Police opened fire on them. The DPO of Pen Cinema police station, Agege, Segun Olubunmi, a Chief Superintendent of Police the source revealed fired the killer shot. The magazine learnt that four persons were hit by bullet but one of them, Ademola Abe, died instantly. The other victims were rushed to a private hospital in Ogba but were refused treatment due to the absence of a police report. It was learnt that the victims were taken to Ifako General Hospital where another victim of the gun shot died . But for the intervention of Labour leaders in the state, the provocative action of the DPO would have degenerated into a major conflict between the police and the Youths. The mobilisation of fierce looking police men armed to the teeth to guard the Pen Cinema police station from being set ablaze by the youths prevented an ugly situation.
The state Commissioner of police, Yakubu Alkali, ordered the arrest and detention of the DPO.
Lagos was not the only state where lives were lost. The protest also claimed lives in Benin. Kano and Niger states. In Kano , two persons were killed while Edo and Niger states recorded one death each. The deceased in Niger state, was an Inspector of police attached to the INEC office in the state.
There are conflicting figures about the number of people killed during the protest. One account has it that 11 persons were killed while another account put the deaths at 16.
Adoke, vowed that ‘government would no longer sit idly by, while the current situation deteriorates into a state of general insecurity’.
In spite of the opposition of Labour to the petrol subsidy removal, there are individuals and Organisation who support the policy.
Omar Suleiman , Managing Director Nigeria Ports Authority, NPA, disclosed that NPA loses about N100 million daily as a result of subsidy on petrol.
He stressed that due to cheap price of petrol per litre in Nigeria, it is usually smuggled across the border to other countries in the West African sub-region. In Adamawa state , for instance, the Magazine was told that truck loads of petrol are smuggled daily across the border to Cameroun and other countries in the sub region. The NPA boss affirmed that the removal of subsidy on petrol would make smuggling of the product unattractive to smugglers because of the low profit margin.
Network for the Defence of Democracy and Good Gvernance, NDDGG, observed that ‘removal of subsidy on fuel is in the best interest of the Nigerian masses’.
Comrade Sobomabo Jackrich, Coordinator of the group, noted that President Jonathan is not ‘punishing the masses but taking a painful stand to salvage the nation’s economy.’
The South south Elders and Leaders Forum argues that the ‘action and intention of the Federal government is in the overall interest of the country and its immediate future.’
Previous administrations in the country had attempted deregulation but were not courageous enough to implement the policy, they said.
Former Military Heads of State-Generals Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha and Abdulsalam Abubakar (rtd) increased the pump price of petrol during their regimes. Former interim President, Ernest Shonekan and former President Obasanjo also tinkered with the pump price of fuel. Late President Umaru Yar’Adua, reduced the pump price of petrol from N70.00 set by the administration of Obasanjo to N65.00 per litre.
Despite opposition to the policy, President Jonathan pleaded with Nigerians to ‘show understanding and take him by his words of repositioning and strengthening the economy’.
Coming out strongly in defence of the President, Okonjo-Iweala disclosed that those calling for the head of the President were not fair to him. She disclosed that state governors entered into agreement with the Federal government to remove subsidy on petrol , adding that it was not a unilateral decision of the federal government.