Protesters under the aegis of Coalition of Civil Society groups, in conjunction with the Nigerian Lives Matter movement have held what they described as a massive fuel subsidy protest to condemn the increase of pump price to 162 Naira.
The group, numbering over a hundred, stormed Abuja on Thursday to drive home their demands which included the reduction of the pump price.
Recall that the president Muhammadu Buhari led All Progressives Congress, APC, government had announced the pump price increase, sparking condemnation across many sections of the country and in the Diaspora.
Meanwhile, a statement signed by the Convener of the groups, Mr Roland Odih. Said that the protest was peaceful even though some security personnel tried to scuttle it.
While condemning the security agencies for trying to stop the group from protesting, the convener noted that a supreme court’s judgement had rulled that Nigerians need no permit from the police to hold any protests. The statement read thus:
“Today, the Coalition of Civil Society Groups, in conjunction with the Nigerian Lives Matter movement held a massive fuel subsidy protest at Unity Square to protest President Buhari’s increase of fuel price to 162 Naira.
The Supreme Court has ruled that Nigerians do not need a permit from the police to protest.
Our protest was large but peaceful, yet men of the Department of State Security unleashed their harassment on us, arresting our members and attempting to disrupt our protests, which could not be stopped, due to the large crowd.”
