Protesters clash in Abuja over absent President

Police officers had to step in between protesters as the groups campaigning against President Muhammadu Buhari and the demonstrators backing him almost clashed in Abuja on Friday, August 11, 2017.

The "Our Mumu Don Do" movement led by entertainer and activist Charles Oputa, aka, Charly Boy, has been staging a sit-out protest at the Unity Fountain since Monday August 7.

The group, alongside the "Concerned Nigerians" group, led by former social media director of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), Deji Adeyanju, has been demanding that the president should either return to the country he left over three months ago, or resign from his position.

On Thursday, August 10, pro-Buhari groups, like the Coalition for Good Governance and Change Initiative,marched the streets of Abuja in support of the president who has been out of the country for 96 days.

On Friday, both groups met at Unity Fountain, and trouble almost broke out before it was promptly contained by the police.

The pro-Buhari demonstrators reportedly met the "Resume or Resign" campaigners at the Unity Fountain and taunted them with chants like, "Buhari kills corruption".

This is coming a day after President Buhari's Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, branded the protesters "an illegal assembly stealthily organised to deliver a blow to the war against corruption."

The "Resume or Resign" campaigners were attacked by the police on Tuesday, August 8, when officers fired gas canisters and water cannons to dismiss them.

ALSO READ: Police attack protesters against President with teargas, water cannons

A protester was injured and had to be rushed to the Federal Staff Clinic Federal Secretariat, while Charly Boy also fainted due to the attack.

Despite Tuesday's setback, the group marched again in Abuja on Wednesday and Thursday.

The protesters' full demands are: "that the president either personally or through his aides make the true detail of his health known to all Nigerians; that president should address all Nigerians in a language we can all understand on the true state of his health and other national issues; that he returns to the country and resume work as president of Federal Republic of Nigeria in order to lead us out economic and security quagmire we have been pushed into as a nation; if President Buhari fails, refuses and/ or neglect to do any of the above , then he should resign from office; if he fails to honourably resign, then he should be impeached from office by the national assembly."

ALSO READ: Protesters demand President's return or resignation

President Buhari left the country on May 7 to resume treatment for an undisclosed illness in London, leaving Acting President Yemi Osinbajo in charge of the country's affairs.

77 days after he left the country, pictures of President Buhari finally surfaced online when he met with state governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on July 23, at the Abuja House in London.

Since then, he has met with another delegation of Nigerian governors, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, as well as the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.

The First Lady, Aisha Buhari travelled to London to meet the president on Sunday, August 6, ahead of what is considered to be his return.

The president and his team have insisted that his return is imminent, but there has been no confirmed date.