After President Buhari’s speech on Thursday, the rejection of the 500 and 1,000 naira bills as legal cash prompted rioting in a number of localities, including Ikorodu, Mile 12, Mowe, Mile 1 in Lagos, Ogun, and Port Harcourt.
In order to rescue, defend, and preserve lives and property, Nigerians must be alert and aware of these hot places.
According to POLITICS NIGERIA, the circumstance caused alarm among Sabo Roundabout locals.
According to a source, there was shooting as many civil servants and those heading outwards Ikorodu had to make a U-turn for fear of being hit. “Government buses conveying civil servants all turned and returned to Ikorodu? Itowolo is also not safe. Agric, Ikorodu was (sic) unrest a couple of minutes ago. But it looks calm now from where I stand,” the source said.
As a result of the current naira shortage, the Lagos State Police Command has reported civil unrest in Ikorodu and certain other areas of the state. According to information obtained by this newspaper, a security force made up of members of the Nigerian Army and officers from the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) is currently on the scene.
Some Nigerians upset by the hardship brought on by the Naira shortage on Friday protested in the Mile 12 neighborhood of Lagos State. The criminals gained control of the road and started targeting the BRT buses and riders.
Police officers and other security personnel have reportedly responded to the unrest, according to POLITICS NIGERIA. The unrest has been confirmed and reinforcements have been sent, according to Benjamin Hundeyin, the PPRO for the Lagos State Police. On Friday morning, he confirmed it on his verified Twitter account.
As anger continues to rise over the shortage of the newly redesigned N500 and N1,000 currency notes, irate youths stopped vehicular traffic in many areas of Agege on Friday. Civil unrest was reportedly seen in the Agege neighborhoods of Oke-Koto, Sofunde, and Agbotikuyo, according to POLITICS NIGERIA. Majority young people protesters stopped key roadways and lit bonfires in impacted communities.
Remember that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in an effort to combat corruption, terrorism, counterfeiting, and associated crimes, unveiled the new notes in December of last year. Due to shortages and escalating hostility, Nigerians have had difficulty obtaining the new notes. Violent protests have taken place in a few South-West Nigerian states prior to this morning. On Wednesday, there were tense demonstrations in the states of Oyo and Ondo.
An interim order from the Supreme Court of Nigeria restraining the CBN from enforcing its 10 February deadline for the use of the old naira notes seemed not to have worked, as the old N500 and N1,000 notes were being rejected by many individuals and businesses across the country.
Also in Ogun State, riots on Friday spread to communities as youths protested the lingering new naira policy and fuel scarcity. It was gathered that the protesters barricaded the Mowe end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and turned back motorists and travellers.
Kentochmedia gathered that the protesters resisted police intervention and threatened to set the police station in the area ablaze.
Kentochmedia also had earlier reported that fighting erupted in some areas on the popular Lagos-Ikorodu expressway in Lagos State over the scarcity of the new naira notes and the hardship the policy has thrown Nigerians into.
There are also unconfirmed reports of chaos at Mile 1 market in Port Harcourt with hoodlums snatching peoples phones, wallets and smashing cars.
Meanwhile the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has warned President Muhammadu Buhari and politicians to desist from pushing the country into anarchy. President of the Congress, Comrade Festus Osifo told reporters that workers could not fold their hands and watch the country destroyed by those who do not mean well for it.
Osifo lamented that Nigeria has never had it so bad, where the people attack banks, strip in banking halls or threaten to commit suicide because they can’t access their money. According to him, “The populace is unable to pay for basic needs including food, medicines, clothes or transportation.
“Workers and indeed mases cannot be used as pons in the hands of politicians.
“We do not only hold those in political office responsible for this clear decline into anarchism, but also the politicians who rather than come up with concrete suggestions or try to find a solution, have turned this tragedy into a circus show in which brick bats are thrown, conspiracy theories woven, and accusations made while the people are meant to suffer.
“Nigerians are angry; justifiably so and have shown their anger in several ways, including through protests. Tragically, rather than address the issues or try to assuage their anger, the security services under the Presidency is shooting live bullets at defenceless Nigerians. “The TUC demands that President Muhammadu Buhari and his government put an immediate stop to these shootings and bring the culprits to book.
“Indeed, what can be more criminal than depriving the citizenry of access to their hard earned money thereby starving them and their families, and then turning round to unleash armed security forces on them? “The Presidency and political class must realise that they are pushing the country down the steep slope of anarchism. “Unless they reverse this, they must know that our collective efforts to build a viable and democratic system would be lost; we are very close to the precipice and must act carefully.
“Nigerians unlike the politicians and the wealthy class have nowhere to run to, have no money stacked abroad and have no option than to remain in the country; their interest must be priority one. “Therefore, the TUC, the Labour Movement, professional associations, market associations and social movements have no choice, but to defend the populace and prevent any tragic situation or scenario.