Ministers stranded as protest shut down Abuja

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday shut down the nation’s capital in protest against the removal of fuel subsidy.

Ministers and top government officials were stranded as they had to attend to issues personally.

Workers stayed away from offices; all filling stations, markets, shops and other businesses were closed.

Despite the presence of about 15,000 policemen, workers, led by the National President of the NLC, Abdulwaheed Omar and the President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Peter Esele, converged on Julius Berger Roundabout in the Federal Capital Territory at about 8am for the mass protest.

In the presence of armed policemen and soldiers, the protesters sang solidarity songs and danced to the tunes of the late Afro-maestro music, Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

But the five-hour mass action was peaceful although workers were restricted to some routes.

Although some of the protesters had mounted an emergency settlement opposite the Eagle Square at about 6.30pm on Sunday with their tents and blankets, the police and other security agencies disallowed them from gaining access to the place.

It was gathered that at about 3am yesterday, security agencies came to evacuate the protesters.

The Square was cordoned off by armoured vehicles and security agencies to prevent workers from accessng it.

The siege, however, did not deter the protesters from marching on Zone 5, Zone 6, Wuse Market to the AP Plaza in Wuse II.

The highpoint of the rally was the involvement of some past and present members of the House of Representatives, women in purdah, and physically challenged persons on wheel chair and roller skates.

Others who participated were lecturers, the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP), civil society groups and power bike riders.

Some of those at the procession were the NLC General Secretary, Owei Lakemfa; ace activist Prof. Toye Olorode; a pop star, Charly Boy; a member of the Police Service Commission, Dr. Otive Igbuzor; the National Publicity Secretary of CNPP, Osita Okechukwu; Clement Nwankwo; Ezenwa Nwangwu; the President of Human Rights Writers Association, Emmanuel Onwubiko; the President of the National Youth Council, Comrade Ajani ; a human rights activist, Kayode Ajulo; Tunde Aremu and a former President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Lanre Ogundipe.

The lawmakers who took part in the protest were Dino Melaye; Abdulmumuni Jibrin; Bamidele Opeyemi; Patrick Obahiagbon; Aminu Suleiman; and Babale Musa.

One of them said the House members who took part in the strike action were up to 50.

The star of the procession was Obahiagbon, whose grammatical bombshell and coinage enlivened the protest amid shouts of “we want more, we want more.”

The protesters wielded many placards with the following inscriptions: “Nigeria is not Animal Farm, it is our right to protest”; “Jonathan: Fight insecurity and corruption, our refineries must work now”; President Goodluck, is this your type of fresh air”; “Subsidy removal, a crime on Nigerians” ; “One day, the poor will have nothing to eat but the rich” ; “Security, stable power supply, good roads, education, job creation, affordable housing, not fuel price increase”; “We reject IMF/World Bank neo-liberal policies”; “Socialist Workers League: No to fuel price hike, revolution now”; and “Everyday for government, one day for its people” among others.

But at a stop over rally in Wuse Market at about 10.27am, the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, asked Nigerians to prepare for a long drawn strike.

He said: “Comrades, we are not going to talk too much. But the message is that Nigerians are saying no to fuel price increase. What organized labour and civil society coalition are saying is that we must revert back to N65.

“Mr. President addressed the nation and in his address which of course was an emergency, he announced a reduction of 25 per cent of the basic salary of political office holders. Comrades, the President is the highest political office holder in Nigeria. His basic salary per annum is N3.5million. Alright if you reduce 25 per cent from N3.5million that means you are reducing about N650, 000.

“Comrades, let us assume that there are 1000 or 10,000 other political office holders in Nigeria. N650, 000 times 10,000 is only a paltry N65million. Comrades, the President’s entertainment alone as provided in this year’s proposed budget is N1billion. “The provision for travels by Mr. President this year is N10billion. If you replicate all these in the same proportion in the states, what we are saying is that that is not what the government don’t want. And if that reduction is done will it have any effect on the price of commercial vehicles? Will it have any effect on the goods we buy?

“Therefore the only solution is that you revert back to N65. Comrades, another thing about the issue of the fuel subsidy, we have been saying it that what was appropriated was N260billion last year. How come government will continue to claim that they have spent over N1.3trillion?

“Now there are two things that come up here: it is either somebody is telling lies that such money was not spent at all or that they spent the money illegally because any monies that should be spent especially in that quantum must be appropriated by the National Assembly.

“The National Assembly members have said that they have not appropriated such money. That means even the expenditure on purported fuel subsidy is illegal.

“Comrades, what we are saying is that even if government claims that they have spent N1.3trillion and that they cannot do it, why must it be that it is only removal of subsidy that would be the solution? Why don’t they go after those who have collected the money illegally?

“Comrades, I must say that in the last two days we have seen men and women of integrity in this country in the name of members of the House of Representatives especially. They defied all instructions, all entreaties, all threats that they must not reconvene but because they are close to the people, they could feel the pinch of the people they decided they must convene and take decision.

“And yesterday afternoon, they took a resolution calling on the Executive to revert back to N65 per litre. Comrades, this is a very patriotic thing and we commend the members of the House of Representatives. We also call on the Senate to also do the same thing. “Comrades, you know that some of our colleagues, even some honourable members were arrested on ‘orders from above’ that they should be arrested simply because they are coming out on the streets to express their grievances. I mean Hon Dino Melaye and co. What people do not know is that this thing is only making them heroes.

“We will continue the struggle. Comrades, like my colleague has just mentioned, we have a track record of very peace protest rallies and we must maintain that. We must not give anybody any chance to have reason of security to disperse us. We are harmless. Nobody should attack us.






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