Tension in Abuja: Police Clash with Protesters, Fire Teargas as Workers Flee Offices

There was tension in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, on Monday, October 20, as civil servants who resumed work after the weekend were forced to return home following a violent clash between police officers and protesters led by the publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore.

Our correspondents at various strategic locations in the heart of Abuja reported that mobile police officers, fully armed and in combat gear, dispersed protesters around Eagle Square, opposite the National Assembly complex, by firing multiple rounds of teargas.

Sowore had earlier vowed to lead a one-million-man march to the Aso Rock Presidential Villa to demand the release of the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu. Kanu has been in detention for over six years, facing trial on charges including terrorism.

Last Friday, a Federal High Court in Abuja issued an interim order restraining the organisers from staging any protest near the Presidential Villa, the National Assembly, and other key government institutions.

Despite the order, the organisers insisted on going ahead with their plan to converge in the FCT and march to Aso Rock. Early Monday morning, the protesters gathered in Maitama, Abuja, ready to begin their march.

The demonstration, led by Kanu’s lawyer, Alloy Ejimakor, and joined by Omoyele Sowore, was met with strong resistance as security operatives fired teargas to disperse the crowd.

The protest, tagged #FreeNnamdiKanuNow, had earlier been described by security agencies as illegal, with warnings issued to the organisers to call it off or face consequences.

However, the Director of Mobilisation for the Take It Back Movement, Damilare Adenola, dismissed the warnings, maintaining that the protest would proceed as planned in Abuja and simultaneously across the South-East region.