Panic In Abuja As Protesters Combat Police At Shoprite Mall
A man was seriously injured in Abuja this afternoon as protesters stormed South African-owned Shoprite Mall in Abuja to protest attack on Nigerians in South Africa.
The protesters, who were prevented by the police and the military from attacking the mall, resulted to burning tires and a billboard along the Abuja-airport road.
The predominantly youth protesters threw stones at the security operatives, causing heavy traffic build-up on the expressway and forcing motorists to look for alternatives.
The police and military men, who could not bear the outcome of the distraction by the protesters, started firing teargas and bullet into the air to disrupt the protesters.
The situation worsened as the protesters attacked security operatives.
In the process of shooting into the air, an artisan opposite the Shoprite mall was gunned down and immediately rushed to an undisclosed hospital.
The security operatives proceeded to smoke the protesters out of their hiding places in a village just opposite the Shoprite, when the teargas overwhelmed them.
Motorists and passersby were thrown into panic and fear during the battle between the security operatives and the protesters.
Don’t allow the boko boys to use this as an opportunity to attack
I FIND no words to describe what happens to me right now. Hence I shall not speak about my sadness here. Let the whole civilized world rise and prove if they are shocked by this incessant attacks on Nigerians, for this is not the first time we are having this; it has been a perennial injury against us, and every right thinker should call for sanction against South Africa.
I AM too sad to go on; perhaps, I wouldn’t have ever commented on this attack if not that some Nigerians tried to reprise. It is so sad when anger precludes sound judgement. What do we think we would achieve if South African companies in Nigeria are attacked in retaliation? NOTHING! Rather, it hits us back. Nigerians are the ones employed and working in Multichoice, Shoprite, and MTN. You burn their shops, Nigerians go jobless and hungry. I doubt if individual South Africans have small-scale businesses in nigeria that we could say are strictly owned and managed by South Africans, so that only them would lose in the event of misfortune. None. But there are many such businesses in South Africa owned by Nigerians, and this is what gives them the result they yearn for. No single South African lost anything in this exuberance of xenophobic stupidity.
BUT LOOK at us, pitiable us!! It is a Nigerian who is reported seriously injured in our own attempt to retaliate. The protesters started burning tyres—for what? What are we doing to ourselves? South African attack our businesses in their country, we lose. We attack theirs in our own country, we lose again. We need to be wise and tempered about it. All is not strength that marches headlong. Wisdom is better than a bold charge that is counterproductive.
THE BEST THING FOR NIGERIANS IN SOUTH AFRICA TO DO is to return home. We know that our government still leaves much to be desired, and our democracy is “the oppression of the people by the corrupt, for the corrupt”, but hope is only spoken to the living. If our country was better, not many Nigerians would have been doing anything in South Africa today.