I had witnessed high-speed chases and intense shootouts only in action movies until Saturday when my colleagues and I found ourselves in the middle of a harrowing, real-life experience while covering an anti-government protest in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. The initially calm situation on the protest ground began to take a frightening turn when suspected officials … Read more
Prominent Nigerians have knocked President Bola Tinubu over his address on the ongoing #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protests against the economic crisis in the country. Nigerians in major cities have taken to the streets since Thursday to protest the rising cost of living while calling for an end to “bad governance.” The protests have resulted in looting of … Read more
The fourth day of the nationwide protests started slowly in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, on Sunday as near normalcy returned to the city. From 10 a.m. on Sunday, PREMIUM TIMES moved from the Umaru Musa Yar’adua highway, popularly known as Airport Road, through the Moshood Abiola Stadium to Area 1, Area 10 and to the Three … Read more
A magistrate court in Jigawa State has remanded Umar Danjani, and 73 others over alleged arson, at the head office of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state. Mr Danjani, the Jigawa youth leader of the PDP campaign council for Atiku Abubakar in the 2023 presidential election, was remanded alongside the others in the … Read more
The Nigerian National Committee of International Press Institute (IPI Nigeria) has observed with concern a series of indiscriminate attacks on journalists covering the #ENDBADGOBERNANCE protests in the country. We hasten to remind law enforcement agencies that it is the constitutional duty of journalists to cover the protests. They should, therefore, not be attacked while carrying … Read more
A female protester collapsed in Abuja on Friday after police officers fired tear gas to disperse peaceful protesters at the MKO Abiola Stadium. The protesters dispersed after the police fired multiple rounds of tear gas at them. However, two sturdy protesters stayed back, defied the health hazard of the tear gas and called for help … Read more
The Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, has once again appealed to the protest conveners, their covert and overt benefactors, to sheathe their swords and seek dialogue. The sultan, in a statement signed by the Secretary General, Jama’atu Nasril Islam, Khalid Aliyu, on Thursday, warned that an escalation of the violent protest may cause a catastrophe … Read more
At least 11 buses filled with ‘No protest’ protesters arrived at the premises of Moshood Abiola National Stadium at about 9:35 a.m. on Thursday, the first day of the planned 10-day protests. Three of them told PREMIUM TIMES in separate interviews that they were promised N5,000 each to participate in the anti-protest. Two also said … Read more
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, has again warned against unlawful acts, armed robbery, criminality, and destruction of infrastructure during the 1 August nationwide protest. Police spokesperson, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, disclosed in a statement on Monday in Abuja. Mr Egbetokun had earlier on Friday rolled out some conditions the organisers should meet before embarking … Read more
A group of Islamic clerics have appealed to young Nigerians to shelve the planned protest schedule for August, saying it won’t yield any positive result. The clerics said this following their meeting with President Bola Tinubu on Thursday. The president held separate meetings on Thursday with APC governors, traditional rulers from around the country, and … Read more
