Protesters besiege NIMC, conduct mock burial for DG

Protesters, comprising sacked National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) staff, on Wednesday, took over the entrance to the office of the commission, chanting war songs while conducting mock burial for the Director- General of the commission, Chris Onyemenam.The grouse of the protesters was what they described as unlawful sack of a total of 4,029 staff of the commission.The protesters, who arrived the office of the commission located on 11, Sokode Crescent, Off Dalaba Street, Zone 5, Wuse at about 10:30a.m., succeeded in getting close to the gate to the office of the commission before they were blocked by arms-bearing police officers from the anti-crime control squad and Berger roundabout police station.Visitors to the commission were turned back as Nigerian Tribune gathered that the director-general and top management staff were in a meeting while the protest was going on.For close to two hours that the Nigerian Tribune observed the protest, no staff of the commission addressed the protesters while the policemen conducted themselves in a civil manner as they neither attacked nor arrested anyone in connection with the protest.ACP Odukoya Sunday later arrived the scene and asked the leaders of the protests to put their grievances in writing, forward it to the National Assembly and wait for the outcome.He said, "If you don't allow them to work on it, then you may not get result. Policemen are around to ensure that hoodlums don't hijack the protest and cause problem and they will say you caused it."Some of the protesters, who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune demanded that the director-general should be sacked and a probe panel should be instituted to investigate the alleged N30.066 billion earmarked for the national identity card project.They insisted that their sack was an offshoot of what they termed obnoxious policy of the director-general over non-possession of HND or BSc certificates by the affected staff despite the fact that many of them were currently in school.Efforts by the Nigerian Tribune to get an official reaction to the protest failed but it was gathered that the director-general would make an official statement today.
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