Armed soldiers and mobile policemen, on Tuesday, took over Gani Fawehinmi
Park in Ojota, Lagos, proposed venue for the continuation of the #RevolutionNow
protest in the state.
The links recalls that the protesters were forced to reschedule venue for the protestafter they were dislodged from using the National Stadium, Surulere yesterday
by heavily armed security personnel.
The Links reports that a videoeditor and camera man with SaharaReporters, Victor Ogungbenro, was, on Monday, arrested alongside eight other protesters by a combined team of soldiers and police officers deployed to thwart the planned ‘RevolutionNow’ protest.
In a message widely circulated on social media yesterday, some of the
protesters in Lagos had said they will continue the protest today at the Gani
Fawehinmi Park.
Our correspondent, who moved around the Lagos mainland earlier today,
noticed heavy presence of security personnel in major recreation parks and
notable places across the state. At the Gani Fawehinmi Park in Ojota, a combined
team of soldiers, drawn from Army’s OP MESA team, and mobile policemen were
stationed around the area. The armed soldiers were seen in four Army’s OP MESA
Hilux strategically positioned in the area, as the entrances to the Park were
locked. But two mobile policemen, dressed in their combatant vest and grey
trousers, were seen sitting inside the Park around 10am.
Our correspondent also observed that some heavily armed policemen were
stationed with an armoured personnel carrier at the road linking commuters from
the Lagos – Ibadan expressway to Ikorodu Road at Ojota. Also at the Kanu
Ndubuisi Park in Alausa, policemen from the state command were also
strategically positioned there while passers-by go about their daily routines
undisturbed. However, a combined team of mobile policemen and operatives from
the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the state police command were seen patrolling
the city in a convoy led by an armoured personnel carrier. Efforts by our
reporter to contact the organisers of the protest weren’t yielding result as at
the time of filing this report, as their mobile numbers were unreachable.
