Security men stop protests over Al-makura impeachment moves

Armed soldiers, policemen, Civil Defence Corps and men of the State Security Service (SSS) were deployed in large numbers in towns in Nasarawa State yesterday over widespread protests against moves by the state House of Assembly to impeach Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura.

After the impeachment motion by the House on Monday, the Clerk, Mr. Ego Mai-Keffi, was by press time yesterday yet to serve the governor the impeachment notice. Mohammed Baba Ibaku, the House committee chairman on Information, said while that remained difficult, the House had an alternative arrangement to serve him through substituted means.

There were large protests in four townsLafia, Keffi, Akwanga and Mararaba where youths and women groups trooped to major roads against the lawmakers’ moves, describing it as being prompted by monetary gains.

The protests attracted troops from the 177 Brigade of Guards Battalion of the Nigerian Army who took positions in strategic locations and patrolled the towns to check the protests. Armed policemen and operatives of the Civil Defence were also out to stop the protests.

Traders, commercial motorcyclists, drivers and artisans took to the streets of Mararaba to protest.

The protesters blocked the Abuja-Keffi expressway, causing a traffic gridlock for hours until the arrival of armed soldiers and policemen who took over control of traffic.

Some of the protesters held placards which read: ‘No Impeachment in Nasarawa; Goodluck don’t cause confusion in Nasarawa; Presidency don’t fuel religious crises in Nasarawa; Touch Al-Makura and see fire; Nasarawa House of Assembly is anti-devil and Goodluck is evil’.

One of the protesters, Musa Abdullahi, described Al-Makura as a hard working governor, who is trying to turn the state around for the better.

“He is better than the other governors who have ruled this state and has touched every one of us with the dividends of democracy,” he said.

Armed soldiers and policemen who arrived the scene cleared the roads for traffic to flow and stood guard by the roadsides watching the protesters.

In Keffi, our correspondent gathered that between 9am and about 11:30am, soldiers and armed policemen prevented hundreds of protesters from accessing the main roads.

“We were prevented from going round in the peaceful protest. Soldiers are everywhere. Policemen are everywhere, stopping us from embarking on a peaceful protest even after we notified security agencies of our peaceful and lawful intention,” Bisallah Adamus, leader of the Ta’al Volunteer Group (TVG), the pressure group that organized the protest.

He said TVG had Tuesday written the police, Civil Defence, the SSS and Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC) notifying them of the protest plan and sought security protection for the protesters but added that rather than provide security, they came to stop the protests.

The leaderships and members of the Association of Market Women (AMW), Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), students union bodies, Keffi Traders Association (KTF), National Association of Transport Owners (NATO), National Union of Roads Transport Workers (NURTW), religious leaders, as well as political groups including APC Youth Patriots and Dikko Team, a pro-Al-Makura group, all participated in the protests.

Police spokesman ASP Ismaila Umaru said he was aware of only the Lafia protest when he spoke to Daily Trust.