As news of the restart of the #EndSARS protest filtered into Ondo State, on Monday, the police command in the state warned youth not to try to return to the streets in form of protest as such would be resisted frontally.
The spokesperson for the command, Leo-Tee Ikoro, said the command was prepared to ensure nothing of the like that happened during the last protest repeats itself for whatever reason.
There was anxiety in the state following news of the protests in Osun and Lagos States.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that youth in their hundreds poured into the streets on Monday demanding the end of police brutality.
They also blocked the entrance into the Osun State House of Assembly, demanding an audience with the speaker of the House.
Residents of Akure, the state capital, were apprehensive and were expecting another outbreak of the protest, but nothing happened as the day rolled by.
Although many went about their normal duties, police and other security patrols were regular across the major streets of the city.
“Why should there be another EndSARS protest? SARS has been disbanded and ended, there is no reason any more for anyone to be calling for an end to SARS,” said Mr Ikoro.
“All the SARS officers have been transferred, some of them are still undergoing treatment, so what is the name they are going to give to this one? Except they are miscreants who want to use this period of the year to foment problems.
“People are free to protest, but they are required to write the police for cover, and we will not allow any kind of thing that will see the destruction of property.
“Anyone who tries it should be prepared to find himself in a detention camp, and may lose some parts of his body.
“Because the law says if you see somebody trying to destroy a property and you ask him to leave there and he refuses, then you will need to use force to get him out of there,” he said.
Mr Ikoro added that no police officer will wait to see the kind of destruction witnessed during the last protest, adding that the law already prescribed what should be done in such circumstances.
The Commissioner of Police, Bolaji Salami, has been making efforts to get the police officers to return to work fully, after they had temporarily stayed away from work shortly after the devastating protests.
Several police formations in the state were razed by protesters, including the offices of the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress. A correctional centre was broken into and prisoners set free at Okitipupa.
Two policemen were reported to have died during the protest in the state.
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