Angry protesters trooped to the residence of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari in Daura, his hometown in Katsina State, on Thursday. The crowd is in response to ongoing #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria nationwide demonstration.
The protests have gone awry in a few states leading to deaths and forcing at least three governors to declare curfew. The mob which attempted to break into the residence of the former number one citizen said they were fed up with the economic situation of the country.
“They set up bonfire in front of the former President’s house and were chanting loudly,” a witness revealed
In a video young persons were seen shouting on top of their voices.
“Bama yi! Bama yi! Bama yi!,” the crowd chorused in Hausa.
The term, which literarily translates as “we don’t want”, is usually used as a form of disapproval during protests.
It took the intervention of an unidentified person who came out of Buhari’s residence to address the angry youths. The person, according to the witness, asked the mob to select one person to speak, while he would be recorded and the video shown to the Nigerian leader. After this, the angry youths reportedly headed for the palace of the Emir of Daura, Alhaji Farouk Umar Farouk. One of them was reportedly shot on the leg by security operatives who were trying to disperse them but the protesters refused to back down.
According to a resident of Daura, who wouldn’t want his name mentioned, “I was at my place of work organising speech and prize event for our students when the protest began. I was briefed about what happened. I learnt that the protesters took to the residences of former President Muhammadu Buhari, the Emir of Daura and Magajin Garin Daura.
“While returning home from my place of work, I moved through the residence of Alhaji Musa Uba, the Magajin Gari, a senior traditional title holder in Emirate, and can confirm that some minor damages had been done there. He was reportedly against the protest and that could be the reason the protesters attacked his house. They threw stones at the house but the situation was contained by security operatives. The palace of the Emir is being guarded by the army and police. As we speak, Daura is calm.”
In the FCT, Nyesom Wike commended protesters in the nation’s capital for being non-violent and peaceful, noting that if Abuja was lost to violence, the nation was also lost.
Wike made the comment during his address at the presentation of the Staff of Office to four newly graded Chiefs in Abuja. The scheduled #EndBadGovernanceinNigeria protests began in Abuja earlier today, with protesters converging on the MKO Abiola Stadium as early as 6 am, in line with a court order restricting the protest to the venue.
Pockets of violence however marred the otherwise protests, forcing security agencies and men of the Nigeria Police to fire tear gas at some protesters, in a bid to maintain law and order. The protests later erupted at multiple locations across the capital city including Nyanya, Asokoro and Gwarimpa.
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