BAD OMENS OF FUEL SUBSIDY REMOVAL, ITS HARMFUL EFFECTS ON HUNGRY, ANGRY NIGERIANS WHO ARE FIGHTING FOR THEIR RIGHTS. Days of Rage • Nigerians march against fuel subsidy removal How peaceful protest turned violent in parts of North-West From ISMAIL OMIPIDAN, NOAH EBIJE, Kaduna, TUNDE OMOLEHIN, Sokoto and ATTAHIRU AHMED, Gusau Saturday January 14, 2012 Long before organised labour, under the auspices of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the civil society organisations decided to draw a battle line with the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, over the removal of fuel subsidy, there were political scores to be settled in some of the states, in the North-West geo-political zone. Prominent among these states were Kano, Kebbi, Kaduna and Zamfara, to a large extent. Therefore, for watchers of political events in these states, it did not come as a surprise to them that the anti-fuel subsidy removal protest turned violent in some of these states. In Kano, for instance, Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has been battling to establish a firm control over Kano State. About a week before the commencement of the protest, the government had a running battle with an Abuja-based daily, over the reportage of the views of the government on fuel subsidy removal, to the extent that the Kano office of the newspaper house, was invaded by thugs, who are allegedly sympathetic to the government. The published report was to the effect that the Kano State government wholly backed the removal of subsidy. And by last Monday when the protest began, Kano became the first state in the North, to record casualties, as two people were shot dead, while about 40 were injured, even as several government vehicles, about 30, were set ablaze, right in the premises, housing the office of the Secretary to the State Government, a thing that forced the state government to immediately imposed a dusk-to- dawn curfew on the state. Those shot dead were a 25-year- old student of Bayero University, Kano (BUK), Alhaji Bashir Musa Zango and another 27-year-old, by name Alhaji Abdulmalik Rabiu Badawa. They were said to have been shot dead by security agents. The protesters, in their hundreds of thousand, had marched through some of the major streets in the state capital peacefully, but became angry when they discovered that the venue of the rally was shut against them, a thing that forced them to head for the Government House at about 11.00am. On reaching there, security forces threw tear gas to disperse the angry protesters while the crowd responded with stones and sachet water. The situation became unruly as the demonstrators forced their way into the complex accommodating the office of the SSG, surging further towards the seat of power. It was at that point that the police, using their armoured personnel vehicles, started shooting into the air to scare away the protesters, and in the process, stray bullets were said to have hit some of the protesters. The state Commissioner of Police, Idris Ibrahim, who refused to confirm the exact number of arrests made so far, however, said investigation into the incident was still in progress, even as he insisted that the protest was hijacked by miscreants. It is instructive to note that prominent among the Kano citizens, who were part of the protest, even after the curfew was imposed, were the CPC and ACN governorship candidates in the last April elections. Interestingly, the ACN’s candidate was the deputy to immediate past governor of the state, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, before defecting to run, when his boss effectively blocked him from picking the ANPP’s ticket. Another political dimension was introduced to the protest, on its day four, when protesters, began to call for the resignation of the INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega. Their argument was hinged on the fact that Jega superintended over a election that brought in President Jonathan, adding: “If the election had been truly free and fair, the real leader of the people would have been elected.” Like Kano, the protest in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital, also assumed a violent turn. Unlike that of Kano, however, the Gusau’s own took a religious dimension, as some churches were set ablaze in the process, before government imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on the state. And like Kano, Saturday Sun learnt that most of the residents were angry with the governor, for openly canvassing support for the removal of fuel subsidy.