FCT POLICE COMMAND HINDER NASU PROTEST

Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command has blocked protesting members of the Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) from embarking on a protest march to demand payment of their withheld salaries.

Armed Police personnel, who were deployed with Armoured vehicles and Hilux Vans, barricaded the entrance of the popular Unity Fountain in Maitama District of Abuja, the meeting point of the union members on Thursday morning.

Our Correspondent reports that at about 9:10am, the FCT Commissioner of Police, CP Benneth Igwe, stormed the venue, telling the union leaders consisting of the President of SSANU, Mohammed Aruna Ibrahim and General Secretary of NASU, Comrade Peters Adeyemi. that they can not use Abuja streets for their protest.

However, NASU general-secretary, Peters Adeyemi, who spoke briefly thereafter, told journalists that appropriate authorities were informed of the planned protest and wondered why the Police are refusing them to carry out a peaceful protest.

The protest, which was slated for Thursday is part of other demonstrations that started last week Tuesday across the States by both NASU and SSANU, to voice their grievances over withheld salaries by the Federal Government despite President Bola Tinubu’s instructions that the arrears be paid.

Nine months after the presidential directives, the unions accused the Federal Government of selective payment of withheld salaries by excluding their members.