NLC protest in Maiduguri cut short amid fears of insecurity

Ibrahim Umar
Kanempress
3rd, August,2023

The demonstration by workers in Maiduguri Borno State on Wednesday took place within a limited vicinity to maintain the delicate security situation in the state.

The procession which commenced at 10 am from the NLC Secretariat in Maiduguri only proceeded for a short distance before being halted by a police barricade.

Earlier the protesters encountered a minor barricade installed by the police a few meters away from the NLC Secretariat but were eventually allowed to continue.

Upon reaching the main security barricade at the NUJ Gate in Maiduguri the workers decided to turn back and returned to the NLC Secretariat.

“We signed an agreement yesterday with the Police, DSS and other security agencies not to match beyond that point (NUJ Gate) to avoid miscreants infiltrating and hijacking the protest to breach the peace of the insecurity-vexed state,” Mamman Bukar, the Borno State NLC Vice Chairman, told the rather scanty crowd of workers at the NLC Secretariat at the end of just-about-an-hour peaceful protest.

“They (security agencies) drew our attention to the still very fragile security of the state, especially with the police currently battling with a group of miscreants called Mallians breaching security in the metropolis,” Bukar said.

“So this restriction should not be misunderstood as we (NLC and TUC) leaders selling out or trying to scuttle the protest,” he pleaded.

The peaceful protest, The PUNCH observed, was almost marred by very low attendance of the workers due to the high cost of transportation restring movement.

The protest ended by 10:30 am