The Nigerian Police Force Wednesday, tear-gassed members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, University of Abuja branch as they mobilise for their protest into the streets of the Federal Capital City, Abuja.
Eyewitnesses said that the lecturers had gathered at the mini-campus of the university at Gwagwalada for the protest when suddenly policemen and plain clothes security personnel took over the entire arena and prevented them from the embarking on the protest.
Speaking to journalists, the zonal Chairman of ASUU, Dr. Clement Chup said ASUU sent a letter to the Commissioner of Police at Gwagwalada to notify him of their protest but was surprised when they were prevented by Police from entering into campus.
According to him, “We members of Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU of University of Abuja had actually planned to carry out a peaceful demonstration today . What we planned was to have a community marching just to march through some major streets in Abuja, to sensitize the public on the essence of our strike.
You will agree with me that the strike that has been on for the past four months now is a cause for worry for everybody. We wanted to tell members of the public we are on strike because the Federal Government have refused to implement the agreement they had with our members since 2009.
“But unfortunately when we got to the campus this morning (Wednesday), we were prevented from entering the campus by Policemen. When they prevented us from entering the campus we sat down helplessly outside the gate, just chatting and trying to put heads together, the Policemen came around and tear gassed us several times to disperse us”.
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Chup continued, “We were wondering why, a security agent that are supposed to provide security for law abiding citizens would turn around and begin to oppress the same people they are suppose to provide security for. It was really a cause for worry, even as they threw over 13 canisters of tear gas at us. Some of us were soaked in the tear gas and one of us who has asthma condition was rushed to the hospital.
“We insisted that it is our right, so at the end of the day, we were able to carry out our protest at a point in front of the university gate. When they tried to stop us and they didn’t succeed, they now allowed us to carry out our protest at the gate where we displayed our banners, sang our solidarity song and left”.
