Workers in Borno State have joined the Nigeria Labour Congress in the nationwide peaceful rally against the economic hardship facing the country.
The protesters are seen walking just a few meters outside the gate of the NLC secretariat to the junction of the road leading to Vice President Kashim Shettima’s residence.
They were, however, halted by a barricade erected by police operatives at the junction.
The State NLC chairman, Yusuf Inuwa, had earlier explained to the workers who had thronged the secretariat preparatory to the rally that they were restricted by the Police AIG Zone 15, Abdu Umar, and the Borno CP, Mohammed Yusufu, on the grounds of the peculiar security of the state.
“At our meeting with the police at the State Police Command, which lasted up to about 3:30 am, the police said that there were intelligence reports that some miscreants were planning to sneak in and hijack the protest,” he said.
“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,” Inuwa stated.
Police operatives, led by Yusufu, had earlier barred the workers from stepping out of the NLC secretariat gate, warning that if the workers insisted, they had the mandate to seal the secretariat.
The workers were, however, afterward allowed to stage the rally at the gate of the secretariat, which extended a few meters to the junction of the road leading to the house of the Vice President. (Punch)
