Protesters set APC headquarters in Jigawa on fire, loot store

Protesters of #EndBadGovernance have set the headquarters of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Jigawa State on fire.

The secretariat was torched during the violence that broke out in the protest against hunger.

Aggrieved youths had stormed the facility in Dutse, the state capital, where they destroyed billboards and other publicity materials before burning down the building.

They also burnt vehicles that were parked within the premises.

The violence spread to some other parts of the state as armed youths broke lose despite efforts of security operatives to contain them.

Report from Hadejia city stated that four people were admitted at a hospital as a result of injuries and suffocation they suffered from teargas fired at them by Anti-Riot Policemen, while government-owned agricultural stores were looted in the area.

In Gumel town, the store of the Jigawa State Agricultural Supply Company (JASCO), a private house belonging to a House of Representatives member representing Gumel, Gagarawa, Maigarati federal constituency in the State, and the house of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) zonal vice chairman, were all vandalized and looted by the irate youths, who appeared to have overpowered the security men deployed in the area.

However, one lady was reported to have sustained injury from the teargas canister, and she is currently receiving treatment at Gumel General Hospital.

In Birnin Kudu, the State Fertilizer Store and Grains Store were all vandalized and looted by the hoodlums, who blocked all major roads linking the town, including Kano-Maiduguri Highway.

In Dutse, the State capital, five persons were taken to Rasheed Shekoni General Hospital as a result of injuries they sustained, while security operatives have succeeded in blocking the hoodlums from vandalising many public properties. However, the APC state secretariat in the capital city was burnt.

Similarly, in Jahun, Kazaure, and Shuwarin towns, the situation was the same as the hoodlums, who posed as protesters, took to the streets calling for the end of bad governance.

However, there were fears for possible escalation of the protests to other local government areas of the State as youth began to regroup in defiance of the directives of Islamic clerics and Traditional Rulers against joining the nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests.

Meanwhile, three state governments – Borno, Kano, and Yobe have declared 24-hour curfew after protesters resulted to looting and destroyed properties.

While Yobe only limited the curfew to three local governments, Borno and Kano’s is state-wide.