#EndSARS: Panic In Lagos As Lekki Rally Looms

• The residents of the Lagos State have been thrown into panic as Lekki rally looms over #EndSARS protest.

EKOHOTBLOG reports that the rally being planned by some Nigerian youths to commemorate the first anniversary of last year’s bloody #EndSARS nationwide protests has thrown the residents of Lagos State into panic.

This online news platform reports that those behind the planned rally have chosen Wednesday, October 20, 2021, for the commemoration which the police and the Lagos State Government are insisting would not be allowed.

Lagos became the epicentre of the #EndSARS protests when, on October 20, 2020, soldiers from Bonny Camp, 81 Division, fired live bullets at protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate and the alleged killings that reportedly attended the shooting led to a global outrage that rattled both the state and federal governments.

The actual number of fatalities at the shooting scene is yet to be established despite multiple testimonies at the judicial panel set up by the state government to unravel the remote and immediate causes of the mayhem and compensate identifiable victims of police brutality.

According to a report by Nigerian Tribune monitored by EKOHOTBLOG, the decision of the rally organisers to spotlight the shooting incident for commemoration is rattling security forces in the state, with the state police command confirming that tactical teams had been deployed to ensure that no mayhem, the kind of which was witnessed last year, is visited on the state again.

In an earlier statement, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Adekunle Ajisebutu, had warned, “Credible intelligence at the disposal of the command has revealed clandestine plans by some youths, individuals or groups to embark on protest today in commemoration of the one year anniversary of ENDSARS. Lagosians and indeed Nigerians cannot afford to relive the distasteful experience of last year protest which caused pain, anguish, needless loss of lives and wanton destruction of public and private property.

READ ALSO: Sanwoolu Working Hard To Stop ENDSARS Anniversary – Falz

“In view of the volatility of the present situations in the country and the breakdown of law and order which the planned protest might cause, the Lagos State Police Command sternly warns against any form of protest today. The command wishes to use this medium to warn the youths, groups or associations planning such protest to jettison the idea forthwith.

Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu

“The police in the state will not fold their arms and allow some misguided elements disrupt the peace and serenity currently being enjoyed in the state. To forestall breakdown of law and order, the police will use all legitimate means within their constitutional powers to suppress the planned protest.

“Therefore, parents and guardians are advised to warn their children against participating in the planned protest. Individuals or groups sponsoring such protest are also warned to, in their own interest, desist from such unpatriotic plan or face the full weight or wrath of the law,” the police spokesperson stated.

When contacted for the position of the Lagos State Government, the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, he referred to the above position of the police, invariably adopting it as the stance of the state’s leadership.

The commissioner, however, gave the assurance that if the need arose for the state government to speak further on the matter, he would reach out to this newspaper.

As of press time, he had yet to add anything new to the police position.

He had said earlier that the matter was police’s to handle as the security body in charge of civil issues.

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