The Lagos State Police Command has announced that it would not allow any form of rally that may spark violence in the State.
This announcement is coming as some people are insisting that the planned Yoruba Nation rally slated to hold in the state on Saturday must go on even though prominent agitators like Chief Sunday Igboho has announced that the rally has been suspended.
This was disclosed by a joint press conference of the state Commissioner of Police, CP Hakeem Odumosu and the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso, at a media briefing held in Alausa, Ikeja.
Odumosu said the State was yet to recover from the effects of the Y2020 #EndSARS protests, which almost brought Lagos to its knees.
He said, “Lagos cannot afford to experience any form of breakdown of law and order and threat to public peace at the moment. Considering the negative effects of the 2020 #EndSARS crisis that led to massive destruction of public and private facilities, we would not tolerate any breach of security in the State”.
“The Lagos State Police Command hereby declares that no rally will be allowed, under whatever guise, in any part of the State,” he added.
While warning the organisers and their followers against staging the planned rally, Odumosu urged them to stay away from Lagos in the interest of public peace. He vowed to deal with recalcitrant individuals within the ambits of the law.
Citing intelligence reports, Odumosu said the organisers planned to stage the rally simultaneously in 18 locations in the State.
He also disclosed that a certain ‘Elewe-Omo’, a transport union leader in Ibadan, Oyo State, planned to attack the organisers of the rally as a reprisal following the death of one of his followers in recent violence.
“The Command will not fold its arms and allow disgruntled elements to truncate the peace being enjoyed in the State,” he warned.
Also speaking, Omotoso said that while the government was not against rallies in a democratic setting, staging a rally in Lagos now is antithetical to the State’s progress.
“The scars of #EndSARS protests are still visible in the State. We advise the organisers to shelve the idea” Omotoso said.
He listed some of the public and private assets destroyed last October. They include the iconic City Hall, the historic Lagos High Court, the Forensic Lab and 200 BRT buses among others.
“The timing is not right”, Omotoso stated.
