UNIDENTIFIED youth under the guise of #EndBadGovernance protest have attacked a Red Cross Society’s office in Potiskum Local Government Area of Yobe State.
Pictures and video seen by The ICIR show how the mob invaded the building, burnt the organisation’s land cruiser vehicle, and destroyed an overhead water tank.
The nationwide protest which began on Thursday, August 1, also turned violent in some parts of the state.
Mob masquerading as protesters also set public buildings on fire, and stole food items and empowerment equipment leading to the arrest of about 18 persons.
Channels TV reported that seven mass transit buses were burnt in the Potiskum Local Government Area of the state on Thursday amid the nationwide protests leading to the imposition of a curfew by the government in three local government areas namely Potiskum, Gashua, and Nguru where hoodlums took advantage of the protest to vandalise and loot government and private properties.
The special adviser to the state Governor Mai Mala Buni on Security Matters, Dairy Abdulsalam, urged people in the affected areas to abide by the curfew for peace to reign.
According to him, security agencies have been directed to ensure enforcement and full compliance with the curfew order.
The ICIR reported that the insecurity, inflation and hike in the cost of living among other reasons in Nigeria have pushed many citizens to plan a 10-day nationwide protest from August 1 to 10.
Since the President took over power on May 29, 2023, there has been unprecedented inflation, with the market prices of food snowballing and more citizens pushed into poverty.
Nurudeen Akewushola is an investigative reporter and fact-checker with The ICIR. He believes courageous in-depth investigative reporting is the key to social justice, accountability and good governance in society. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 on Twitter.