Some persons suspected to be hired thugs on Thursday disrupted a peaceful protest in Akure, Ondo State, staged against the hardship and insecurity in the country.
The protesters, early on Thursday, massed at the popular Cathedral junction, First Bank Area and at the ‘A’ Division, before thugs arrived.
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The thugs disrupted the gathering without any police intervention or restraint, raising suspicion that they were sponsored.
Organisers alleged that the police may have a hand in the disruption, an allegation the Force denied.
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The peaceful protest aimed to raise public awareness of citizens’ rights to democratic participation and to speak out against bad governance.
A former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) and rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, who led the protest, said a letter was written to inform the police of the protest.
“What is so sad is that a letter had been written by a lawyer to the Commissioner of Police, not to plead with police that we want to protest, but just to remind them of their duties as policemen to protect people in the country,. And they failed and shirked that responsibility. That is why we relocated the protests here,” he said.
“We have just met with him (commissioner), and he did promise that something would be done. Do I believe? No, but at least we made our point known. But we’ve given him a matching order that if something is not done, we’ll come back here and take over the place.”
Mr Sowore said nobody has the right to prevent another Nigerian from expressing themselves, noting that he would resist the oppression of any citizen, whether a civilian or a policeman.
“We are not going to accept it. We are not, and that’s why we have come here today.”
“These hired thugs came to sabotage and hijack. They came to that place to attack the peaceful protest,” he said.
Tope Temokun, a human rights activist, who also spoke with journalists during the protest, said they formally requested the intervention of the police to ensure the safety and protection of peaceful protesters scheduled to take place in Akure.
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While reacting to the protest, the Ondo State Commissioner of Police, Wilfred Afolabi, denied that any police personnel in the state had anything to do with the thugs.
“With the level of training we have received both locally and internationally, we will not allow any police man under my watch to have anything to do with thugs,” Mr Afolabi said.
“So their allegation that maybe police connived with thugs to attack them is baseless.”
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