The Police in Abuja have fired tear gas to prevent #endbadgovernance protesters in the nation\u2019s capital from gaining entry into the Eagles Square.
\nProtesters in their numbers on Thursday shunned an order by the Federal Capital Territory which restricted the protest to the MKO Stadium in the city.
\nJustice Sylvanus Oriji gave the order on Wednesday while delivering a ruling in an ex-parte application brought before him by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike.
\nThe Three Arms Zone where the Eagle Square is located is the seat of power as it houses the Presidential Villa, National Assembly and the Supreme Court, as well as the Federal Secretariat and Head of Service.
\nThe protesters, however, marched to the Eagles Square which they initially planned to use to make their voices heard.
\nHowever, at about 10:30am when some journalists were trying to interview some of the protesters, a policeman fired a canister in that direction.
\nWhile many fled in different directions, a young woman with a baby went straight to the policemen and dared them to kill her and the baby.
\nBefore then, a mild drama played out when the Minister of State for Youths Development, Ayodele Olawande, arrived in the area to address the protesters.
\nMuch as he tried to speak, his voice was drowned by the protesters\u2019 loud chants of hunger, disallowing the Minister from speaking.
\nAfter speaking to some of the protesters, describing himself as a comrade who had attended well over 500 protests in the past, the protesters later calmed down to listen.
\nFrom Abuja to Abeokuta, Port Harcourt to Lagos State, banks, and businesses have been shut, and the roads are unusually deserted as protesters defy last-minute push by authorities to stop the demonstrations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Police in Abuja have fired tear gas to prevent #endbadgovernance protesters in the nation\u2019s capital from gaining entry into the Eagles Square. Protesters in their numbers on Thursday shunned an order by the Federal Capital Territory which restricted the protest to the MKO Stadium in the city. Justice Sylvanus Oriji gave the order on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/126"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}