Update: Fully armed men deployed to Lekki Tollgate

Following earlier warning against #EndSARS protest 1 year anniversary issued by Lagos CP Hakeem Odumosu, Nigeria Police Anti-Riot vehicles have been strategically stationed at the Lekki tollgate to prevent any form of gathering.

The CP promised that his officers would resist any of such protests.

Reacting in a tweet, human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore warned the police against suppressing the will of Nigerians to repudiate the mass atrocities of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government.

In October 2020, Nigerians across the country stormed the streets to demonstrate against police brutality and bad governance under the #EndSARS campaign.

However, on October 20, soldiers from the Bonny Camp, 81 division, invaded the Lekki tollgate, where some demonstrators had gathered, and fired gunshots.

In his reaction to fresh plans by youth and groups to commemorate the first anniversary of the #EndSARS protest, the police commissioner urged the groups to shelve the idea.

Though the right to peaceful assembly and the right to protest are constitutional rights of Nigerians, the Nigeria police have continued to clamp down on protesters.

In February, some Nigerians had planned to organise #OccupyLekkiTollGate protest over the move to reopen Lekki Toll Plaza in Lagos State.

The State Judicial Panel of Enquiry had granted LCC’s request to take repossession of the toll gates at Lekki-Epe expressway and Lekki-Ikoyi link bridge. However, the panel was divided over the decision.

Following the decision, the organisers of the #EndSARS began to mobilise for another round of protests tagged; #OccupyLekki while another pro-government group also launched a counter move with #DefendLagos and #DemNoBornDemPapaWell.

The Lagos State Police Command immediately deployed its men to the Lekki toll plaza along the Lekki-Epe expressway.

Just recently during a peaceful protest on Nigeria’s independence day, men of the Nigeria Police Force fired tear gas canisters at protesters in Abuja.

The peaceful protesters could be seen chanting and displaying banners and placards saying ‘Buhari Must Go’.

Six of them were arrested by the police, brutalised and detained for demanding the resignation of Buhari. They were later released.

Omoyele “Yele” Sowore (born 16 February 1971) is a Nigerian human rights activist, pro-democracy campaigner, former presidential candidate, and founder of an online news agency Sahara Reporter