AT least three persons were killed and many more injured as Police fired teargas canisters to disperse hoodlums who infiltrated #EndBadGovernance protesters on Thursday across the Jigawa State.
Jigawa witnessed an unprecedented situation in the history of the state as the nationwide protests against hardship and hunger sprang up in over 10 major towns across the state with reports of destruction and looting of government properties by hoodlums.
Report from Hadejia city confirmed that two persons were killed and four people were admitted at a hospital as a result of injuries and suffocation they suffered from teargas fired at them by Anti-Riot Policemen, while government-owned agricultural stores were looted in the area.
In Gumel town, the store of the Jigawa State Agricultural Supply Company (JASCO), a private house belonging to a House of Representatives member representing Gumel, Gagarawa, Maigarati federal constituency in the State, and the house of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) zonal vice chairman, were all vandalized and looted by the irate youths, who appeared to have overpowered the security men deployed in the area.
However, one lady was reported to have sustained injury from the teargas canister, and she is currently receiving treatment at Gumel General Hospital.
In Birnin Kudu, the State Fertilizer Store and Grains Store were all vandalized and looted by the hoodlums, who blocked all major roads linking the town, including Kano-Maiduguri Higherway.
In Dutse, the State capital, one person were feared killed and five persons were taken to Rasheed Shekoni General Hospital as a result of injuries they sustained, while security operatives have succeeded in blocking the hoodlums from vandalising many public properties. However, the APC state secretariat in the capital city was burnt.
Similarly, in Jahun, Kazaure and Shuwarin towns, the situation was the same as the hoodlums, who posed as protesters, took to the streets calling for the end of bad governance.
However, there were fears for possible escalation of the protests to other local government areas of the State as youth begin to regroup in defiance of the directives of Islamic clerics and Traditional Rulers against joining the nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests.
