By Luka Binniyat, Kaduna
Two former governors of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa and Col. Hamid Ali (rtd), would lead a fresh protest against the new N97 per litre of petrol in Kaduna today.

This was contained in a statement signed by the two men and seven others in Kaduna. The others who signed the statement are: Barrister Oladajo of Occupy Nigeria; Shehu Sani, President, Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria; Yunusa Tanko, Save Nigeria Group and Bonet Emmanuel of Know Your Budget. Others are: Suleiman Ahmed, Anti-Corruption Revolution; Dr. Samuel Stephenson, Youth for Peace and Non-Violent Revolution and Abdulsalam Kasim, National Association of Nigerian Student.

The statement reads: “Occupy Nigeria and Civil Society Organisations in Kaduna State are continuing with protest over the withdrawal of Petrol subsidy and matters arising there from to wit: (1) The military invasion of protesters in Lagos, Kano and Abuja. (2)

The arrest by the Nigerian Police of protesters and politicians in Niger, Zamfara and Kano state.

“Our demand: The Minister of Finance and Petroleum Resources; the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Executive Director of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) be suspended from office until after the completion of investigations into the petroleum industry.

“As a united body, we are still strongly opposed to the recent hike in petroleum price fixed at N97 per litre and as such demand that it should be returned to the status quo of N65/litre.”

“The peaceful protest at the Luggard Roundabout will continue by 7am on Saturday 21st January, 2012 lasting till 1pm.

“We appeal to participants to ensure that there is no molestation of anyone, and no damage to property or burning of any sort anywhere. Everything must be peaceful”, reads statement.

But, the Kaduna state government had last Wednesday warned against any form of public protest, gathering or procession in the state, saying the state was not stable for such actions yet.