By Salim Yunusa
The police in Lagos State teargassed and randomly arrested protesters who ignored an earlier warning by converging at Ojota for the “Yoruba Nation” rally targeting citizens of the South-West geopolitical zone of the country.
There were doubts as to whether the scheduled rally would go ahead on Saturday following a bloody raid on the Ibadan residence of Sunday ‘Igboho’ Adeyemo, one of the organisers of the rally, but the event happened eventually.
However, the rally turned rowdy as police, who had cordoned off the area very early on Saturday in an effort to forestall the public gathering, teargassed the large crowd that had assembled at Ojota, firing into to s are away the people.
Aside firing teargas cannisters, the police also sprayed water cannon on the protesters to forestall breakdown of order.
Different security operatives, including men of the Nigeria Police Force, Nigerian Army, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in combat gears have been deployed in Ojota and the surrounding area with patrol vehicles as well as armoured personnel carriers (APCs) in order to restore sanity.
Protesters arrested at the venue by the security operatives of the rally were taken into Black Maria stationed there.
Motorists and other road have been advised to avoid Ojota but to take alternative routes to their destinations.
Earlier, the state commissioner of police, Hakeem Odumosu, had told journalists that Lagos State could not afford a repeat of the experience the violence that accompanied the #EndSARS Protests in Lagos last year, allegedly orchestrated by some individuals and leading to widespread destruction of property in the state.
Odumosu restated his warning that the police would deal decisively with whoever was caught participating in, or facilitating, the rally in Lagos State, within the ambit of the law.
Meanwhile, peace and order has been reatored in Ojota, the venue of the rally calm as armed security agencies have taken over strategic points in the area.
