Over 30 policemen, on Tuesday, disrupted a peaceful protest organised to demand for immediate sack of Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu, over alleged impunity and abuse of office.
The protest was organised by a rights organisation, Anti-corruption Network, and led by its Executive Secretary and former House of Representative member, Dino Maleye in Abuja.
The protesters carried placards with various inscription such as: “stop impunity in Nigeria now”; Anti-corruption network: Nigeria is not a banana republic, among others.
Anti corruption network protest in Abuja, 28 January, 2014.
They marched down from the NITEL Junction, along Ahmadu Bello Way at Wuse II at about 11: 20 am to the Ministry of Police Affairs Premises in the Federal Secretariat when they were blocked at the ThisDay Dome Junction
by armed policemen who not only fired canisters at them but also shot to the air sporadically to disperse the rally.
Journalists and passers-by ran helter skelter as the stern-looking security men used their Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) and vans to block the road.
The APC also sprayed hot water on the protesters.
The situation led to the disruption of vehicular movement as many drivers who could not understand what was going on made frantic efforts to take to other routes.
Speaking on the disruption, Maleye who knocked the Federal Government for allowing the alleged impunity in Rivers State to go on unchecked, lamented that under a democratic government, Nigerians were being denied the right to peaceful protest.
“We are going to submit a petition, we are peaceful Nigerians with women, some pregnant and carrying children and we expected them to show civility and responsibility but lo and behold, the police shot sporadically, media men being chased, one camera was smashed.
“In a democratic setting, we have the constitutional power to demonstrate in a protest peacefully. We will not retreat, we will not surrender, the battle to salvage our country from these canker-worms of financial scavengers is a battle of no retreat, no surrender,” Maleye stated.
He vowed to continue with the struggle no matter the intimidation.
“We will fight by the last drop of our blood, democracy will continue to be government of the people for the people and by the people and not government of the greedy for greedy by the greedy. It is now obvious more than ever that the presidency and the PDP are behind the instability and impunity going on in Rivers State,” the former House of Representatives member vowed.
Source:Information Nigeria
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