A coalition of Niger Delta Youth leaders on Wednesday staged a protest at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) Towers in Abuja with a call on the Group Chief Executive Officer of the oil giant, Engr. Bashir Bayo Ojulari to quit over alleged corruption and mismanagement.
They also called for the appointment of an indigene of the Niger Delta region as the GCEO of the NNPCL.
The youths who arrived the towers in their numbers from around 6am successfully blocked the entrance and exit gates of the NNPCL Towers.
They carried banners with different inscriptions and continuously chanted solidarity songs amid music supplied by a local orchestra and modern music blaring from loud speakers positioned in an opened truck stationed near towers.
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The protest disrupted vehicular traffic on the ever busy Herbert Macualay Way in the Central Business District.
Security agents including men of the Nigeria Police Force who were drafted to the scene in their numbers appealed to the protesters to maintain decorum and ensure that the protest was peaceful.
The security operatives also ensured that traffic was diverted to one lane of the dual carriage way leading to the NNPCL towers.
Workers were forced to park their cars far away from the gates of the Towers due to the protest.
However, the protesters later cleared off the highway and massed at the exit gate of the Towers following an appeal by a representative of the Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil)), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri.
This development led to the opening of the second lane of the dual carriage way to vehicular traffic.
The protest though disruptive was peaceful.
(THE NATION)
