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Protesting students target Apapa port after airport road blockade


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Defying an early-morning downpour to block access roads to the airport’s international and domestic terminals, students acting under the auspices of the National Association of Nigerian Students on Monday delivered on their threat to halt operations at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

Their demonstrations against the Academic Staff Union of Universities’ current strike continued with this activity.

Air travelers were left stranded due to the access roads being blocked, which required airlines to rearrange the majority of their flights.

However, the students informed reporters that they would stage a demonstration at Apapa Ports on Tuesday (today).

Adegboye Olatunji, the association’s South West Coordinator, revealed this in a chat with one of our reporters on Monday.

“If the Federal Government does not take the necessary action, we will relocate to Apapa seaports on Tuesday. Students are sick of being at home, according to Olatunji.

As of 8 a.m. on Monday, NANS members barred travelers from entering the airport to board their flights at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport Toll gate plaza.

The airport road and Mobolaji Bank Anthony Road leading to the local airport came to a standstill when the students later went to the domestic airport.

As the students blocked travelers from entering the airport, activities at both Domestic Terminal I, also known as the General Aviation Terminal, and Terminal II were hampered.

The students who were protesting had signs that read, among other things, “Education is a right, open our schools” and “Our education is more important than your election.”

Traffic became backed up around Ikeja because of the obstruction, leaving commuters and drivers stranded.

Most commuters and air passengers began walking with their luggage on their heads as the bottleneck worsened.

Security personnel were also present in large numbers at the scene.

The demonstration forced Olumide Akpata, the recently-retired president of the Nigerian Bar Association, to walk to the Hajj Camp, where he met his driver.

Speaking to our reporter, Akpata remarked that if he had been a student, he would have followed suit.

When he was a student in this country, he claimed that if he had stayed at home for nearly a year for any reason, he would have been living on the streets.

Meanwhile, a minor drama unfolded when some military personnel later asked the protesting students to end their demonstration. The students insisted in blocking the road for eight hours, putting up a strong fight against this.

The security personnel claimed that the protesting students had stayed on the road longer than they were permitted to.

“We had an arrangement that they were going to evacuate the road by 2 pm, and they have over the deadline,” said Kayode Sunday, the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the Airport. This is a global thoroughfare. They should leave this building soon because of how we are handling the matter.

Elvis Ekundina, NANS’s deputy senate president, claimed that the government’s actions were progressively killing off students and that many of them had become a burden on their families and society as a result of the strike.

Olatunji added, “Securities agencies complied and I can say it’s the greatest I have ever witnessed,” when asked about their behavior during the protest. NPF and the Nigerian Army both performed admirably and supported us.

 

 

Vincent Paul

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