The Bring Back Our Girls Group (BBOG) were on Tuesday challenged by
another group during a march to the Presidential Villa.
The rival group, ‘With Buhari We Stand’, said the BBOG should “leave
President Buhari to work for Nigerians”.
The new group was already positioned at the Three Arms Zone when the BBOG
members arrived.
The BBOG were stopped by the Police three times in the course of the short
distance from the Unity Fountain, from where they hold their daily
sit-outs.
Trouble started when a team of armed anti-riot policemen arrived at the
takeoff point of the protesters and barricaded the venue. The police
officers became hostile to the demonstrators, saying that they were
operating on orders to cancel the planned rally.
The FCT Deputy Commissioner of Police, M.D. Garba, kept mute when the
group confronted him with the police permit allowing them to hold their
peaceful protest. But the protesters became enraged and agitated as they
forced their way into the police barricade and headed to villa gate.
Upon arriving at the villa gate, the #BBOG demonstrators sighted rival
protesters who had already taken over their position. Members of the rival
group, #WithBuhariWeStand, were singing solidarity songs and carrying
pro-Buhari placards in support of the government.
The #BBOG protesters lamented that the police allowed Mr. Buhari’s
praise-singing protesters to go close to the villa gate but refused to
allow the #BBOG camp to exercise their fundamental human rights.
The coordinator of #BBOG, Oby Ezekwesili, said that today marked 871 days
since the Chibok girls had been abducted. She condemned the
counter-protest, which she said was aimed at destabilizing their campaign,
saying they would not allow the president to rest until the girls are
rescued.
“There is nothing to be cheerful for. We have sat with the president two
times and nothing concrete has been done,” Ms. Ezekwesili said.
“The government has decided to curtail the freedom of movement of the
people by stopping us from exercising our fundamental human rights,” she
added.
In the midst of this melee, a presidential convoy was coming from the
villa but was made to follow a detour under the bridge as a result of the
confusion.
This development comes before President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice
President Yemi Osibajo’s trip to Edo State to flag off the governorship
campaign of the All Progressives Congress (APC).