Police halt NLC protest in Borno, say ‘Insurgents may hijack it’

The team of anti-terrorism squad led by the Commissioner of Police has thwarted the protest of the Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC) in Borno State.

The anti-hardship protest, which held across the country, on Tuesday, was to start in Borno at 8am but the police prevented the procession.

Angered by the development, the state NLC chairman and his Secretary, who spoke to members that thronged the secretariat preparatory to the protest in Maiduguri, accused the police of failing to honor an earlier agreement to allow them walk for two or three kilometres.

The NLC chairman, Yusuf Inuwa, told the workers that the restriction was put in place by the Police AIG Zone 15, Abdu Umar, and the Borno CP, Mohammed Yusufu, on the grounds of the peculiar security situation in the state.

“At our meeting with the police at the State Police Command, which lasted up to about 3:30am, the police said there were intelligence reports that some miscreants were planning to sneak in and hijack the protest.

“Two to three days ago, there were intelligence reports that some of the surrendered Boko Haram insurgents, who have been complaining of hunger and threatening to go back to the bush, were planning to sneak in and hijack the protest, which could have resulted in a development more dangerous than we can imagine,” he said

NLC resorted to protest over the government’s alleged failure to implement agreements reached with the government on October 2, 2023, following the removal of the fuel subsidy.