The first day of the nationwide protest in Sokoto against Nigeria’s economic hardship, was Thursday, 1st August 2024. The protest started at 11:00 am, when protesters were going to the government house with various cardboard written: bring back fuel subsidy, bring dollar price below five hundred naira, bad government on.
President Bola Tinubu said he recognises the right to peaceful protests. Still, his administration is wary of the “dangers” associated with demonstrations that are “vulnerable” to being hijacked by criminals.
While the president has begged the youth to shelve the protest, some senior administration officials labelled the protests as unwarranted and politically motivated.
The protesters were shouting in Hausa language “Ba mu yi, adalci mu ke so, ba mu yi, ba mu so Tinubu (We are not interested, we want justice,we are not interested, we don’t want Tinubu) bring back fuel subsidy, bring back dollar price below five hundred naira, bad government.
The protesters destroyed barricades, burned tires on the road, no means of transport could pass because the road had been blocked.
According to a source, Mustapha Aminu said “the reason why the protesters destroyed the barricades was that they said, they are hunger but the government spent money on barricades instead of solving the hunger problem”
“Town was hot, thank God I didn’t go to school, they block the main road, protesters fully took Gidan Mai Ada roundabout(AA Rano Roundabout), If I went to school I would have suffered today” Eseosasere Silantane Idumwonyi a student of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto said.
