Soldiers, police take over strategic areas as #EndSARS protesters stay away

The plans by youths to hold another round of protests on Monday failed as military and police personnel took over strategic locations in some states.

President Muhammadu Buhari had threatened to deal with any act of hooliganism under the guise of peaceful protests just as the police warned that any form of demonstration would be crushed.

Organisers of the protests, who had raised awareness on the social media, had planned to mass on the streets to demand the release of all protesters detained during the first protest and unfreezing all accounts of their colleagues suspended by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as a result of the earlier protest.

Based on the fallout of the October protests while was hijacked by hoodlums resulting in orgy of killings, massive looting and destruction of property, the police on Sunday warned the organisers of the fresh protests to desist from going ahead with the plans as the country was yet to fully recover from the last incident.

Operatives of the Lagos State Police Command and soldiers from 81 Division Nigerian Army were on Monday deployed in strategic areas of the state to enforce the ban emplaced on the second wave of #EndSARS protests.

The security operatives were seen at black spots and known volatile areas.

The deployment of the military and police personnel was a follow-up to the warning issued on Sunday by the state command Commissioner of Police, Mr Hakeem Odumosu.

Ogun State Police Command also banned protest in the state, warning prospective protesters to desist from such action or face the full wrath of the law.

A statement by the command spokesperson, Mr Abimbola Oyeyemi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said while the command recognised that it was the right of citizens to protest to express their grievances over issues of governance, “there is, however, nothing at present that calls for such a protest in the gateway state, except for those who see troublemaking as a lucrative business.”

The army said the deployment of soldiers was nothing out of the ordinary but in continuation of their normal routine patrols.

The acting Deputy Director, 81 Division Army Public Relations, Major Olaniyi Osoba, denied claims that soldiers were deployed in Lekki tollgate to abort the proposed protest.

He said, “We have soldiers in that axis on their routine patrol but they are not at Lekki tollgate. Besides, the soldiers you saw were drawn from Operation MESA.”

He, however, noted that the army would show up if they were called upon like they did during the first wave of the protest.

The police also debunked allegations that a protest was held at Lekki tollgate despite the ban.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Olumuyiwa Adejobi, a Superintendent of Police (SP), said the viral but fake video of the purported protest was circulated to create tension and destabilise the security network put in place.

He said, “The command wishes to debunk the fake video that has been circulated to create tension and destabilise security network in the state.

“The video was one of the viral videos released during the recent violent EndSARS protest before the Lekki Tollgate plaza was set ablaze by the violent protesters on October 21, 2020.

“The command, therefore, urges the general public to regard the video as baseless and mischievous.”

However, protesters marched on Osogbo, the Osun State capital, to demand good governance.

The protesters, under the auspices of Face of #EndSARS Movement, converged on Ogo-Oluwa area of the state and marched on the state House of Assembly where they demanded an audience with the leadership of the house.

The protesters, led by a man identified as Mr Emmanuel Adebisi, carried different placards with inscriptions such as: “We are not fighting for any political party; #End Bad Judiciary in Nigeria; #End fake judicial panel of Inquiry in Osun; Unfreeze all the frozen accounts; We are Nigerian youths.”

The protesters called for the release of all detainees arrested during the demonstrations in October and asked the CBN to unfreeze the accounts of protesters.