Police authorities in Lagos on Thursday said no form of protest will be allowed in any part of the state.
Lagos police boss Hakeem Odumosu at a press conference said any protest “will be counterproductive to the ongoing series of inquiries and investigations into many cases related to the Endsars violence and the present security situation of the state.”
Odumosu’s comment is coming days after some youths took to social media to speak against the handover of Lekki toll gate, where Nigerian forces opened fire on unarmed #EndSARS protesters last October, to its owners Lekki Concession Company (LCC).
Members of the judicial panel set up by the Lagos State Government to investigate the October 2020 Lekki shooting voted 5-4 in favor of the handover on Saturday.
Young people mobilising through social media have called out the panel for approving the release of the toll gate while an investigation is ongoing.
Odumosu, however, said the planned protest is “as a calculated attempt to cause pandemonium, brouhaha and massive destruction of lives and properties.”
“The Lagos State, its people and the Nigerian nation at large are still groaning (in pains) for the aftermath of the last Endsars violence that left many lives and properties lost,” the police boss said.
“It is therefore not reasonable to allow same to repeat itself in the state,” he added.
Nigerian Government on Thursday also threatened against any form of protest, adding that the security forces are ready for “any eventuality.”
Nigeria’s minister of information Lai Mohammed at a press conference said the government “strongly warn those who are planning to re-occupy Lekki Toll Gate on Saturday to desist.”
He said, “no government anywhere will allow a repeat of the kind of destruction, killing and maiming wrought by the hijackers of EndSars protests last year.”
