Protesters on major roads in Oyo decry insecurity, economic hardship

PROTESTERS numbering over 100 yesterday marched through major streets in Ibadan, screaming about economic hardship and absence of serious political reforms in the country.

Displaying banners with varied slogans, they marched from Mokola-Adamasingba-Dugbe and its surrounds, demanding Federal and State Governments to empathise with the public.

End Hunger: We Are Dying of Hunger, End Insecurity, Reverse All International Monetary Fund/World Bank, Anti-Poor Policies, End Attacks On Democratic Rights For True Electoral Reform are some of the inscriptions that read.

Professor Ademola Aremu, a former chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) branch at the University of Ibadan, spoke to the gathering at Mokola Roundabout and stated, "We are saying attention should be given to the insecurity." Our goal is for individuals to have access to healthy sleep. We want people to travel with tranquility. We are advocating for farmers to return to their farms and resume cultivation. We want our governments to do this.

Later, the demonstrators were moved to other areas of the city by Aremu, the Joint Action Front, or JAF, Coordinator.
Officers from the Department of State Security Services, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, and other security personnel, including police officers, followed the nonviolent demonstrators in their cars. Hundreds of police officers were also stationed at key locations to make sure that the law would not be broken.