Scores of protesters have continued to march on a major road in Kugbo, Asokoro in Abuja Municipal Council Area (AMAC) amid gunshots and tear gas fired at them by operatives of the Nigeria Police Force. Despite the police’s efforts to disperse them, the protesters, numbering in the hundreds, have refused to retreat.
A Federal High Court in Abuja had earlier issued a restrictive order confining the protesters to Moshood Abiola Stadium. While some demonstrators proceeded to the stadium, others assembled at various spots across the nation’s capital.
SaharaReporters documented how the Nigeria police fired teargas at the protesters in Abuja. The law enforcement agents used teargas to manage the crowds during the protest, which was sparked by concerns over the country’s economic situation.
Demonstrators initially gathered at the MKO Abiola Stadium before relocating to Eagle Square just before the police commissioner’s deadline to enter the stadium. The protesters expressed dissatisfaction with Police Commissioner Benneth Igwe’s directive to move their peaceful assembly from outside the stadium to inside. This sudden directive was met with resistance and jeers from the crowd, who had been demonstrating peacefully.
“We are not obstructing traffic and we are by the side of the stadium. We cannot move into the stadium,” they told the commissioner.
Human rights lawyer Mr. Deji Adeyanju pointed out to the commissioner that the court order allowed the protesters to assemble at the National Stadium, but not necessarily inside it.
“You cannot lock up the protesters in the stadium, the court order was for the protesters to protest at the National Stadium and not in the stadium specifically,” he said.
“We are not here for football, we are not going inside the stadium; they can damage something there after we have left and blame it on us,” one of the protesters added.