Hunger protests escalate from Minna, as citizens lament inability to feed, educate children
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Police say they used “minimum force” to disperse people protesting over hunger in Minna on Monday but that did not stop the agitation from spreading up North to Kano and down South to Osogbo.
The protesters in Kano lamented the closure of the border with Niger Republic, a major farm produce trade route with Nigeria’s neighbour, as well as hunger and their inability to pay their children’s school fees, among other grouses capture on camera by Arise News and broadcast this morning.
Female bakers in Kano had earlier protested over the high prices of flour and other baking ingredients which have impacted negatively on their means of livelihood.
Amid the protests, news broke on Monday a number of travellers from Umuahia in two luxury buses heading to Abuja were kidnapped in Inyele Eteke in Kogi at the weekend.
Social media influencer Chude Nnamdi announced on his X (Twitter) handle the two buses belong to God Is Good (GIG) and ABC transport companies.
Nnamdi disclosed his wife was on one of the buses but he could not ascertain the total number of passengers on the two buses who were kidnapped along with his wife.
He said the criminals demanded a N15 million ransom to release his wife.
Kogi Police Public Relations Officer William Aya, a Superintendent of Police, confirmed the incident but could not ascertain the total number of passengers affected.
__________________________________________________________________
Related articles:
Minna residents block roads to protest high living costs
World Bank reiterates 71m Nigerians “extremely poor”
World Bank warns, Nigeria’s economy too weak to tackle poverty
Atiku moans poverty, hunger escalating insecurity
Jega says insecurity bred by bad governance
__________________________________________________________________
Kogi terror comes after Ekiti relief
The Kogi terror incident happened a day after five pupils of Apostolic Faith Secondary School (AFSS), Emure, Ekiti and four staff members of the school were released by terrorists who abducted them on January 29.
Isaac Adigun, the District Superintendent of Apostolic Faith Church, West and Central Africa (WECA), announced the release at the Anthony, Lagos WECA headquarters during Church service on Sunday February 4.
He said N15 million was paid as ransom by the relatives of the victims who beat down the amount from N100 million initially demanded by the kidnappers.
But the driver of the bus from which the criminals snatched the victims – later identified as Taye Rasaki – was killed in captivity, Adigun lamented.
In all of this, Bola Tinubu is not in town. He has been in Paris since January 24 purportedly on a private trip, which is not officially recognised by the French government.
The President is practical absent from office but he is shown on tape watching the matches of the Super Eagles in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Cup going on in Cote D’Ivoire.
