No demonstrations in South-East as residents desert roads, streets

• Tinubu is product of protests, says group
• Urges region to join protest
                               
As residents in some cities across the country embarked on hunger protests, Owerri, the Imo State capital, and environs, as well as Ebonyi and Abia states, yesterday, were calm with no sign of protests.

 
Consequently, all the streets in Owerri were deserted, as residents stayed indoors. Markets, shops and business owners closed their premises. Only a few vehicles were able to ply the roads.
 
There was a heavy presence of security operatives who patrolled the streets, while some were stationed at strategic locations heavily armed.The Guardian went round Wetheral, Mbaise, Douglas, Okigwe, Aba, Naze, Nekede, Orji roads to ascertain the level of human and vehicular traffic, but people were hardly seen.

Sources told The Guardian that people, who had planned to join other protesters in other states, were hindered due to sporadic gunshots in major areas in Owerri.

SIMILARLY, In Ebonyi State, despite not getting involved in the nationwide protest, residents of Abakaliki, the state capital, and environ, yesterday, deserted streets and roads. 
 
All the shops at Mile 50, Ngbukobe and other areas were shut down, as business activities were grounded. Banks, schools, offices, businesses, including eateries, shopping malls and markets were all under lock and key. There were a few cars on the roads, perhaps those on essential duties, while parks were also shut down.
 
However, a few commercial motorcyclists and tricyclists were operating around the city centre. They may have been emboldened to come out due to the heavy presence of machine gun welding security men moving around in a convoy.
 
The state government has commended the people of the state for not participating in the protest.IN Abia State, there was a relative calm, as residents did not participate in the protest.

Governor Alex Otti had, on Tuesday, in a state   broadcast, urged residents not to participate in the 10 days hunger protest, predicting it might be used by hoodlums to cause mayhem.

Similar scenarios were reported across the state, as there were scanty human and vehicular movements, locked up shops and street trading. Offices did not open, including markets. Commercial vehicle operators did not see willing passengers.

However, security operatives were stationed in strategic locations.THE story is not different in Anambra State, as bank workers and civil servants were not on their duty posts in Awka, Onitsha and Nnewi, painting a picture of the normal Monday’s sit-at-home exercise in which  commercial activities are partially paralyzed, forcing residents to remain at home. 

In anticipation of the protest, the police, in collaboration with other security agencies, took proactive measures of deploying heavily-armed personnel to man strategic locations.

Governor Chukwuma Soludo, while speaking through his Chief of Staff, Ernest Ezeajughi, and the Convener of Soludo Support Group (SSG), Chinedu Nwoye, at the South-East Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Media Summit in Awka, yesterday, insisted that the state has no reason to join the protest as any hungry citizen of the state should provide food for himself or herself without waiting for the government.           

MEANWHILE, a group of youths under the auspices of Citizens Nigeria, yesterday, joined in the nationwide protest in Enugu State. They urged the South East to join the protests, insisting that President Bola Tinubu is a product of protests.

The group said: “He protested under the military. He protested under the Jonathan administration when it was only seven months in office.” Members of the group, who gathered at the Naira Triangle, along the Enugu-Abakaliki highway around 11:00 a.m. and brandished various placards, chanted anti-government slogans as they marched to the Michael Okpara Square where they addressed journalists.