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Protest (7)

Female students threaten to protest nude

Posted by 9jabook.com webmadam on November 30, 2010 at 9:06pm
The National Association of Nigeria Female Students (NANFS) has given a seven-day ultimatum to the governors of the South-east geo-political zone to re-open the state universities or face the wrath of female students in the area. ..
In a statement in Owerri yesterday, the students warned that they would be forced to mobilize all Nigerian female undergraduates to demonstrate naked on the streets of Abakiliki, Awka, Enugu, Owerri and Umuahia should the governors fail to comply with their ultimatum which commenced yesterday.

The statement jointly signed by the Secretary-General, Mr. Jemila Audu, the PRO, Pauline Onyegbule, the ex-officio (I), Anita Igbandu, the students expressed regret that the protracted industrial action forced many of them to go into prostitution, kidnapping, armed robbery and other social vices.
The students berated the governors for allowing the strike to linger without addressing the problems that gave birth to it, stressing that all that was required of them was to properly fund the universities and make them attain the required standard.

“But, the South-east governors were unconcerned because none of their female children are students in the universities in the South-east zone.”
The statement read by Mr. Anita Igbandu explained that the entire membership of NANFS had taken a deeper view of the collapse of education in the South east zone and had come to the conclusion that the governors in the zone had no reason to seek for second term because their first outings had proved a monumental disaster for university education.

The students also noted that the Governors had shown that they have nothing to offer Nigerian students who incidentally were the future of the zone and the entire country pointing out that, their only interest is to seek ways to manipulate the system and fraudulently secure their second tenures and continue to deceive their people.
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Nigerians protest in Johannesburg over Brother slain by Police .

Posted by Paul "EFCC" Hawk Adams on August 17, 2010 at 10:57pm

Nigerians in Johannesburg on Tuesday staged a 90-minute march across the city to protest the killing of one of them and to demand better treatment from the police.

Theophilus Anielefo, a real estate agent, was allegedly killed by South African police on July 31, in questionable circumstances.

A large number of Nigerians carrying placards and singing protest songs, marched through the streets, escorted by South African Police and traffic officers, as they aired their grievances.

The protesters marched from Rossetinville Road to Booysons Police station, a distance of about 12km, where they submitted a protest letter to the authorities.

The widow of the deceased, Cynthia Aneliefo, and her mother participated in the protest march.

Speaking at the Booysons Police Station, President of Nigerian Union in South Africa, Jason Osuafor, said the peaceful demonstration was to show disaffection with the killing of Mr. Aneliefo and other cases of maltreatment of Nigerians..

"We are your brothers and are law abiding, contributing our quota to the development of the economy," Mr. Osuafor said and urged the Police to put a stop to such extra judicial killings.

He said the murder of Aneliefo was unfortunate and charged the authorities to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to book.

Mr. Osuafor said the harmonious relations between both Nigeria and South Africa displayed at governmental levels should also be seen among the people.

He noted that there were many inter-marriages between citizens of both countries and stressed the need for brotherliness.

Shadrack Khoza, an colonel and military officer who received the protest letter, assured them that their grievances would be forwarded to the appropriate authorities for necessary action.

Nigeria's High Commissioner to South Africa, Buba Marwa, in a visit to the home of the deceased on Sunday, promised to take up the issue with the appropriate authority.

"We are not taking this issue lying low," Mr. Marwa said, and urged the widow to take heart.

Mr. Marwa described the killing of Aneliefo as a "grave injustice" and assured Nigerians living in Souh Africa of the mission's determination to ensure that their rights were protected.

He said the mission had sought audience with the South African National Police Commissioner,

Bheki Cele to make a formal protest over maltreatment of Nigerians.

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Journalists celebrate Press Freedom Day with protest Police has failed to produce killers of Fallen colleagues

Posted by Paul "EFCC" Hawk Adams on May 4, 2010 at 3:31am
Journalists celebrate Press Freedom Day with protest

As part of activities to mark this year’s celebration of World Press Freedom Day, journalists under the aegis of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), on Monday, held a peaceful demonstration protesting the killing of journalists in Nigeria.
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The protesters, led by the national chairperson of the union, Mohammed Garba, condemned the recent murders of journalists, and the security agencies’ failure to catch the perpetrators of the killings.
Photo:Journalists with placards along a street during a protest to mark World Press Freedom day in Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos, yesterday. Photo: REUTERS

The journalists, dressed in black and carrying placards, matched to Ladi Kwali press centre, Ikeja, Newswatch office, and the Lagos State Police Command Headquarters..

Police condemned for inactivity

Chanting anti-government slogans, the journalists displayed placards with messages such as, ‘Journalists are no longer safe in Nigeria’, ‘I.G of Police, save our souls’, ‘We journalists say no to the killings of our colleagues’, and ‘God save us from these wicked enemies of the profession’.

The murder of journalists is on the increase in the country, with the recent killings of a political editor at The Guardian, Bayo Ohu last year, and a judiciary correspondent for the Nation newspapers, Edo Egbagwu, ten days ago.

“Our members are in black, an indication that the atmosphere and indeed the working condition of journalists in Nigeria are not favourable to us,” said Mr. Garba. “Most importantly, we are in black because we have recorded quite a number of intimidation, harassment, and brutal killings of our members.”

While making reference to the more recent killings of Mr. Ohu and Mr. Egbagwu, at the Lagos State Police Command, where he delivered a letter on behalf of journalists for forward transmission to the Inspector General of Police, Ogbonna Onovo, Mr. Garba expressed dismay with the police’s failure to find those responsible for the killing of journalists in the country.

“We have not seen a very serious commitment on the sides of the security agencies to fish out the killers of these our colleagues; journalists in Nigeria, I must say, we are no longer safe,” he said.

‘Police encourage the killing of journalists’

Mr. Garba further described police inefficiency as responsible for the continued trend of journalists’ killings by people he said were “threatened by journalism,” adding that the press would not be intimidated by the incidents.

“I want to believe that most of those who perpetrate these actions are either politicians, or people who feel that we are threats to their continuous existence in this country, and I want to say with all seriousness that we are not going to be scared by these actions; rather journalists are further encouraged with these tendencies which we have seen,” he said.

Solomon Arase, the deputy commissioner for police, who represented the state commissioner of police, Marvel Akpoyibo, said the police were doing their best to find the culprits responsible for the recent killings of journalists.

“We are greatly pained by the death of your colleagues and we’ve been working tirelessly to ensure that, in the end, we are able to arrest the perpetrators,” said Mr. Arase, adding that the State Police Command’s extension of invitation to journalists from the Nation newspaper to join in the investigation was to demonstrate transparency of purpose on the part of the police.

‘Police must be made to act’

However a journalist from ThisDay newspaper, Gboyega Akinsanmi, who spoke to NEXT after the march, said the police have been inactive for too long, and must now awaken to their responsibilities.

“It’s become so important for us to come out to condemn the killings of our colleagues, because it’s high time the perpetrators were brought to book,” he said.

“In all the killings, no perpetrator has ever been brought to book. We are demanding that the security agencies ensure that the masterminds are brought to book, so there will be security for journalists and their families across the country.”
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Ekpoma Riot:Ambrose Alli University students protest fee increase

Posted by Jane Okinedo on February 16, 2010 at 3:26am
Activities at Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, Edo State, stopped yesterday when over 2000 students took to the streets, protesting alleged increment in their school fees. The surrounding supermarkets and filling station were set on fire, banks were raided, while the Benin-Auchi-Abuja road was impassable as the protesting students barricaded the road, forcing all vehicular movement to divert through Iruekpen-Sabon-Gida-Ora-Afuze-Auchi road.The students were protesting the hike in school fees from N26,000 to N76,000 for full-time students, and from N30,000 to N100,000 for part-time students.The Edo State Commissioner for Education, Ngozi Osareren, denied that there was increase in the school fees of students but confirmed that the governing council of the university met last week where issues on school fees were discussed.Meanwhile, the Education Rights Campaign (ERC), a non-profit group, on Monday condemned the recent increase in tuition fees at the University.In a release jointly signed by the group’s national coordinator, and national secretary, Hassan Taiwo and Chinedu Bosah, respectively, the group called the state government and the school management to revert the fees immediately.“The fees have been provocatively and unwarrantedly increased, and we see no justification for it given the socio-economic difficulties most Nigerians are passing through,” the release reads.According to the group, the old fees, formerly between N20,000 and N30,000, is now between N54,000 and N100,000, depending on the level and the course of study. The part-time and the fresh students are now expected to pay N100,000; pre-degree students are to pay N90,000; science students are to pay N74,000, while non-science students are to pay N54,000.The group also argued that it would be inconsiderate to ask citizens earning N7,500 as minimum wage to pay N100,000 for their wards’ university education.Commenting on the issue, Information and Orientation Commissioner, Abdul Oroh, condemned the action of the students which he said was hijacked by hoodlums, adding that the police would be allowed to do its work and bring those responsible for the destruction of properties to book.
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US-based Ijaw To march to White House in protest

Posted by Akin Osunlaja WebLagosian on May 27, 2009 at 8:21pm
Yenagoa —The Ijaw in Washington DC the United States capital are planning to stage a demonstration march to the White House in protest against what they described as the ongoing genocide being unleashed on Ijaw communities by the JTF. The essence of the demonstration it was learnt is to draw global attention to the intractable and ever-intensifying crisis and genocide in the oil-rich Niger Delta region. Several Ijaw communities in the Gbaramatu Kingdom in the Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State have been destroyed by the nation’s security forces in search of militants. President of the Ijaw Foundation Board of Director, Ebipamone N. Nanakumo who disclosed this to Vanguard in a telephone interview from his base in the United States said the protest march is slated for next Monday June 1, 2009. His words, “This is to inform all of us that arrangements are being made for an Ijaw Demonstration March in Washington DC next Monday, June 1, 2009 from 12:30 PM to 4:30PM.” The protest march he said would commence at the Capitol Reflecting Pool, along the sidewalk and terminate at the White House. According to him, “the Ijaw Foundation’s application for the permit for the demonstration was sent by FEDEX on Friday May 22, 2009, to the National Park Service in Washington DC . We expect the application to be approved.” JTF offensive on Gbaramatu, intentional—Ijaw communities THE Olero Ijaw Federated Communities in Delta State says the current carnage on Ijaw communities of Gbaramtu kingdom by the Joint Task Force is designed by the Nigerian state. In a statement, yesterday, signed by the national secretary, Mr. Adanse Felix, the communities said, “we wish to state categorically that the recent onslaught against the Ijaw communities by the JTF is pre-planned by the Nigerian state”. On the support for military action in the Niger-Delta by the House of Representatives, they said, “we detest the statement credited to the Speaker of House Representatives supporting military option and backing of the JTF”, it said, adding “it is barbaric and uncalled-for for the entire House to support the current carnage in d Niger Delta”. According to them: “We want to call on Mr .President to order cessation of the hostilities that have claimed over 1,000 innocent lives in the creeks”. “We also want to call on the International Community and the United Nations to set up an independent enquiry to probe the remote cause of the recent attacks against civil Ijaw communities. “The UN and the International Community should not shy away from telling the truth and sanction the Nigerian government for the destruction of innocent civilians in their communities. “We want to call on well-meaning individuals to help the displaced persons who are still trapped in the creeks without foodstuff and shelters. We sincerely pray for the repose of the souls that died as a result of the carnage”, they asserted.
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Niger Delta Solidarity Campaign to protest in London today

Posted by Choochoo Sports Book on June 1, 2009 at 11:01pm
War on militants moves to RiversBalarabe Musa condemns ACF's supportFrom Kelvin Ebiri (Port Harcourt), Tunde Oyedoyin (London), Saxone Akhaine (Kaduna) and Hendrix Oliomogbe (Asaba)FROM Delta State, the troops of the Joint Task Force (JTF) yesterday extended their military operations to Rivers State where they located and destroyed a militants' camp close to Buguma creek after fierce exchange of fire with the militants led by one 'Egbele'.But far away in England a coalition of civil and human rights groups, under the aegis of the Niger Delta Solidarity Campaign will today hold a two-hour protest in front of Downing Street, before delivering a petition to the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, asking the British government to put pressure on the Nigerian government to stop the military invasion.Also, former civilian governor of old Kaduna State and Chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Alhaji Balarabe Musa has warned the Federal Government on the increased military action in the Niger Delta. He condemned the support by the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) for the JTF's move to end the crisis in the area with military force.Meanwhile, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has denied planning to halt attack on oil facilities if the multinationals provide employment for locals.MEND also described the former Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Richard Akinjide's assertion that oil and gas resources found in the Niger Delta did not arise as a result of the sweat or investment of the people of the region as parochial.Explaining the extension of military operations to Rivers, spokesman of the JTF, Col. Rabe Abubakar, said the militants fired at the troops from the camp over night and the security outfit had no option than to locate and destroy the camp.According to him, the task force charged with the responsibility of ending militancy in the Niger Delta is poised to neutralize any camp from which attacks on its men are planned and carried out.He said: "The action of the JTF is aimed at eliminating or getting rid of the criminals who are bent on causing unnecessary tension and apprehension in the region. We wish to once again reiterate that we are not targeting any individual or group but the criminals, and we will locate them wherever they are hiding. They can only run but they can't hide."He explained that on Saturday May 30, 2009, the JTF troops conducted a cordon and search operation during which they recovered an AK47 riffle with registration number 4504913 and three Machine Guns (MG) with 50 rounds of ammunition, at Bukuma Village, Rivers State. He said the operation was hitch free.But in an interview yesterday, MEND spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo, denied knowledge of the military incursion in Buguma. "We can only say at this time that this is a public relations stunt as no serious camp has reported any attacks on them," he said.Speaking in Kaduna yesterday, Balarabe Musa urged the Federal Government to go back to the negotiating table with the people in the Niger Delta whom he said are fighting a just cause to improve their well-being and the condition of the region. He cautioned those backing declaration of war against the militants to desist from doing so "because in the near future, it may be their own turn when they are opposing bad policies of government."He said: "It is unfortunate that the Government has declared war against the militants in Niger Delta. The best way to deal with the current situation is to negotiate to end the war and continue peaceful negotiation."This is because those people in the Niger Delta area who are protesting are fellow Nigerians and they have a case. It may be misrepresented. Government should therefore not seek to resolve this issue militarily. They should seek to deal with this issue politically. And it is not impossible to do so. Because, they have already started negotiating."Musa continued: "The so called militants are complaining about injustice, which is so glaring in the region, and they are not alone. So, those who see justification for the military solution being attempted now, I have a warning for them, that today it is the opposition in the Niger Delta area that are being treated as militants, and are being assaulted militarily. Next time, it will be others in other parts of the country. Because, opposition against bad policies of government has been going on throughout the country and it can intensify in any part of Nigeria for a variety of reasons.""The ACF aligned themselves with the wrong government policy. This issue can never be solved militarily. It has never been solved anywhere in this world militarily...the peaceful negotiation which started long ago should continue."Musa argued that the ACF's recent resolution on the matter was not the position of the entire North, stressing that "they may claim to be speaking for the North, definitely they are not; they are only speaking largely for the North of their vision, not the North of free and patriotic Nigerians."By tradition, they always align with the government of the day. They are part and parcel of the ruling class. And under this current situation, they think their economic interest is being threatened."Irked by a statement credited to former Attorney General and Minister of Justice Chief Richard Akinjide in which he was alleged to have supported the military action in the Niger Delta, Gbomo said the young generation of the Niger Delta people does not consider his comments as relevant but would like to remain focused to put an end to the injustice the region is facing because of the opinion of the likes of Akinjide.He said: "The Niger Delta people did not put oil and gas in the region the same way the people of Lagos did not create the land for which they are landowners today. Let him tell the Americans in Texas that the oil discovered in their ancestral homeland was not put there and so it belongs to everyone to use to the detriment of the person on whose land the resource was discovered."According to Gbomo, if Niger Delta people continue debating with the likes of Akinjide, another 50 years will pass without any result.Akinjide had, in a media publication entitled: "There is Still Fear of Secession", allegedly supported the on going Federal Government's military offensive against the militants, an action which civil society groups and prominent Niger Delta leaders have said claimed the lives of many innocent civilians.The former Attorney General of the Federation was said to have argued that oil and gas resources in the Niger Delta have always belonged to the Federal Government by virtue of the British Colonialist mineral ordinance law which rested all the oil in the central government in Lagos.Like Gbomo, the Chairman of the Niger Delta Civil Society Coalition (NDCSC) and a member of the Niger Delta Technical Committee, Mr. Anyankwe Nsirimovu, said he was disappointed by what he described as Akinjide's conjectures."This is very disappointing, coming from a man I thought I respected before now. He has expired, that is the best way to describe his out of currency ideas. Very remote and backward looking. 'His God given oil' indeed! But such ideas must be attacked, else they hold sway in shallow minds like his all over the land.After a protest at the Downing Street today, members of Niger Delta Solidarity Campaign will then proceed to the Nigerian High Commission and deliver another petition to the High Commissioner, Dr. Dalhatu Tafida.Both the co-ordinator of the Campaign, Inemo Samiama and an official of the High Commission, confirmed this to The Guardian yesterday. "We're aware that they're coming, they've informed us," the official said under condition of anonymity. Speaking with The Guardian moments later, Samiama said: "This campaign is not about the Ijaw or just the IPC (Ijaw Peoples Congress) issue, we've formed alliances with other organizations who will be coming out to support us." Revealing the modus operandi of the demonstration, Samiama said: "We will be at the Downing Street , chanting slogans and carrying placards and also singing between 12 noon and 2pm, but at exactly 2pm, we'll go to No 10 Downing Street (Prime Minister's office) to hand in our petition to the Prime Minister."Asked if Brown is aware that they'll be petitioning him and also demonstrating in the periphery of his office, Samiama answered in the affirmative. "No 10 is expecting us, we will deliver the letter to him and then move to the High Commission."The protest was being planned at the weekend as Col. Abubakar said the task force had uncovered a grand plan by "MEND intellectuals" in the Diaspora to engage in a smear campaign and propaganda against the JTF by linking them with different foreign bank accounts and houses abroad.According to him, the purported plan has it that the illegal oil bunkering which has been going on for a very long time was jointly perpetrated by some top army commanders for gratification which made them exceptionally rich with property and foreign accounts.He said: "The aim of this campaign is to tarnish the image of JTF and distract it from its task in the Niger Delta. The JTF therefore wishes to inform this group and any other group that it would not be intimidated and no amount of smear campaigns as being hatched by this group would deter it from carrying out its national duties."
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Naked women protest in Ado Ekiti

Posted by 9jabook.com on May 2, 2009 at 12:43am
The uncertainty and protests that have trailed Saturday’s rerun governorship election in Ekiti State took another dimension on Wednesday, as a group of women clad in white attires protested round Ado-Ekiti, half-dressed. The protesters, who sang anti-Peoples Democratic Party’s songs and chorused “Eeye o” waved white handkerchiefs to onlookers who cheered them on. Some of the placards hoisted by the women read, “VP Jonathan, stop your imposition on Ekiti rerun; Prof. Iwu, fear God; Fayemi won the election, INEC no magomago; Iwu be warned; Ayoka Adebayo, heroine of democracy.” At the Oke-Iyinmi roundabout, 10 of the half-dressed women caused a stir when they formed a separate group to perform a rite, in which they were heard appeasing the gods of the land. While the rite lasted, the women rained curses on all anti-democratic forces and those disrupting the peace of the state. The convener of the rally, Okusanya, said that the women decided to add their voice to the ding-dong that had become the lot of the governorship rerun since Saturday when the election was held. Okusanya, who is also the woman leader of the AC in the state, said that the women were AC members drawn across the state and concerned senior citizens who were fed up with the antics of INEC. Having allegedly collated the results of the rerun, she said that the embattled Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mrs. Olusola Adebayo, should be allowed to complete the assignment by announcing the winner. She said, “Non-release of the result is an ingredient for chaos and violence. The women of Ekiti are in full support of Adebayo to be allowed an unfettered atmosphere to do her job.”
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