The Niger State Police Command said it has arrested a 30-year-old woman, Aisha Jibrin, who led women and youths in a mass protest on Monday over the high cost of living in Minna.

Recall that youth and women took to the streets of Minna, the capital of Niger State, protesting over what they called the biting hardship and the rising cost of living in the country.

The protest started when a group of women, led by Aisha Jibrin, blocked Minna-Bida Road at the popular Kpakungu Roundabout to lament what they termed the suffering under the Bola Tinubu government.

A statement by Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abiodun Wasiu, said on February 5, 2024, at about 7 am, a large number of women and miscreants mobilised and blocked the Minna-Bida Road and Kpakungu Roundabout, claiming to be protesting against the increase in food prices, causing major obstruction on the highway and denying motorists, travellers, and other road users access.

It said the command immediately drafted police patrol teams led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Operations, DCP Shehu Didango, to the scene.

It said that after much persuasion by the police, the protesters deliberately refused to clear the road for public use. Even when Deputy Governor Yakubu Garba availed himself at the scene and addressed the group, they turned deaf ears and chose to be violent.

According to the statement: “The police adopted minimum force to disperse the protesters who turned violent by attacking with weapons such as stones, bottles, sticks, and cutlasses, and damaged police patrol vehicles and parts of the Kpakungu Division’s roof.

“In the course of this, the police arrested the initiator of the protest, one Aisha Jibrin, 30, Fatima Aliyu, 57, Fatima Isyaku, 43, all of Soje A of Kpakungu area of Minna, and 22 other miscreants with the following weapons: a bench and a stick used as a barricade, three knives, scissors, one cutlass, saw blade, iron pipe, four other sticks, two wraps of Indian hemp, and charms.

“During interrogation, Aisha claimed that she was not aware that her action was illegal by mobilising over 100 women and miscreants to block the highway for a violent protest. She claimed further that she informed one youth leader, Hassan, in the area, who promised to inform the police of their plan to protest but did not do so.

“Meanwhile, all suspects were taken to SCID Minna for investigation, and they will be charged in court for prosecution, as efforts are ongoing to arrest other identified members of the violent protest.”