By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Authorities have announced the arrest of over 50 protesters in Nigeria’s north east state of Bauchi, who are part of hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters across the West African nation.
“Fifty-two of them among the protesters were arrested, they were arrested for being violent and very unruly. They tried to disturb the public peace not based on our arrangement with them,” the police command in the state said.
Groups called for a ten-day nationwide protest across the country tagged #EndBadGovernance, starting from Aug. 1, seeking to draw the attention of government to hunger ravaging several families in the country, increasing cost-of-living, insecurity and corruption.
The arrests were made due to breaches of public order and unlawful assembly, Commissioner of Police in charge of the state, Auwal Muhammad said.
Muhammad stated that one of his police officers was injured and he claimed that the protesters became unruly, engaging in phone theft and property destruction throughout the metropolis.
According to him, the protesters who were over 3000 regrouped after they were dispersed and tried to force their way to the Government House.
“They were stoning our policemen. They have injured some of our policemen so we had to act fast. The governor would have addressed them if they were not unruly.
“We acted professionally and we did not kill anybody. The protesters used women and children as shields but we were able to overcome and subdue them,” the CP said.
Civil society organizations have accused the security agencies of provoking demonstrators, a situation they said were responsible for violence that characterized the demonstrations in parts of the country.
While protesters were dispersed with teargas in the nation’s capital Abuja, at least six were reported to have been shot dead in the neighbouring Niger State.
