The Yobe state government in North East Nigeria has imposed a 24-hour curfew after widespread violence and looting erupted in several towns during protests against rising living costs and bad governance. 

In Potiskum, the state’s commercial hub, hoodlums targeted government buildings and political party offices, plundering shops and causing widespread disruption, according to local sources who spoke to HumAngle. 

“We had to run indoors as they approached our school and attacked a party office, looting items from the Vitafoam shop,” said an eyewitness, Hajja Hadiza, a staff member at the Federal College of Education (Technical) Potiskum.

One protester in Potiskum, Idris Zangina, posted a video on Facebook calling for the reinstatement of fuel subsidies. “We have nothing against the federal government, all we want is to return the subsidy and return the fuel pump price to its price before June 2023,” he wrote. “People are suffering, the masses are dying, and we won’t back out until we see these changes are effected.”

“The [government] has taken into consideration the security situation in Potiskum, Gashua, and Nguru towns, where some hoodlums are exploiting the protest to vandalise and loot government and private properties,” Dahiru Abdulsalam, the state governor’s special adviser on security matters, said in a statement shared with HumAngle.

“[We have] implemented a 24-hour curfew… The public is hereby advised to comply with the curfew order and stay at home for peace to prevail in these areas and the state as a whole,” Abdussallam added. 

HumAngle learned that there was no protest in Damaturu, the state capital.