Under pressure, Jonathan summons emergency FEC meeting

Troubled by the mounting protest across the country, President Goodluck Jonathan is trying to scramble his cabinet together to respond to what appears a national uprising.

In the face of mounting protest against government’s New Year day announcement of withdrawal of fuel subsidy, the president has summoned an emergency cabinet meeting.

The Executive Council of the Federation, which was earlier scheduled to meet for the first time this year on January 11, as announced at the last FEC held in December last year, will now convene on Wednesday, one week earlier.

A source at the presidency say President Goodluck Jonathan is troubled by the uprising that has engulfed most cities in Nigeria and has called his cabinet to decide on the way forward.

The meeting will hold at the presidential villa between 9 a.m. and noon tomorrow. 

Nigeria descended into crisis following the January 1 announcement. Protest began in Abuja on Monday where twelve protesters were arrested and later released on Tuesday after threats to charge them for treason. 

Day two of the protest was grimmer as one protester was shot dead in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital. Some police officers in Lagos also joined the protest.