Governor Umar Namadi of Jigawa State has declared a 24-hour curfew following Wednesday’s nationwide protests. The governor announced the curfew in a state broadcast on Friday, describing the situation as unfortunate and unacceptable.
Namadi said the curfew will be in effect immediately but will be relaxed for two and a half hours on Friday to allow residents to attend Juma’a prayers.
The governor justified the curfew by stating that Jigawa is a Muslim-populated state where protests are deemed un-Islamic. He also said that protests are not part of Jigawa’s culture and tradition, stressing that only Allah can cause or relieve hardship.
His words:
Today, we woke up to a severe protest. That is not part of our culture and tradition. We feel that this protest will not be a solution to what people are demanding and are asking for.
“We are all Muslims, and we believe nobody in this world can put hardship on us except Allah, and it is only Allah that rescues us from hardship. Therefore, protest is not a solution and should not be a solution. We realised how people use small boys to achieve their objective of vandalising and stealing people’s property. This is not part of our culture and tradition.
Therefore, we feel as a government, we will not allow this thing to continue unabated, and as a result of that, from now on, we are introducing a 24-hour curfew in Jigawa State. This curfew will continue until we have reviewed the situation with the security agencies, and we feel like it is time to relax, he added.
The protests, which were a peaceful response to widespread hunger and economic hardship, left at least ten people injured, with some requiring hospitalisation due to tear gas exposure.
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