Some hoodlums have interrupted a peaceful protest by fish vendors, looting food supplies from trucks stranded in traffic, on Kaduna road, Niger state.
According to Sadiq Bala, a candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) for the Suleja constituency, who confirmed the incident to TheCable on Thursday, the fish sellers were protesting against the sudden surge in fish prices.
“It was fish sellers that started the protest before it was hijacked by the aggrieved youths who turned it into a hardship demonstration,” he said.
“According to the reports I got from the scene, the price of a carton of fish was N34,000 yesterday but this morning the price rose to N48,000, so the reaction was in response to the increase.
“Some passers-by came and took over the protest. They blocked the Abuja-Kaduna road which is a very busy road, so they were able to draw attention.
“Yes, they started with pineapple, they hijacked a vehicle — a red Volkswagen carrying pineapples — but the driver was able to escape.
“There were some Dangote and BUA trucks on the road. They hijacked the trucks and started to steal food items.
“One of the trucks was carrying bags of rice. They were able to overwhelm the driver and some of them even started celebrating.
“The security operatives were there. Soldiers came, Suleja and Tafa police went there and started firing teargas, so they were able to disperse the protesters.”
Niger State Police spokesperson, Wasiu Abiodun, confirmed the incident, saying, “There was a protest this morning along Kaduna road, Suleja and the protest plan was not communicated to the police. It was later discovered to be hijacked by some miscreants who blocked the highway,” he said.
“Area commander Suleja, ACP Sani Musa, mobilised patrol teams to the scene, dispersed the protesters and the highway was cleared for free flow of traffic. However, monitoring continues.”