July 03, (THEWILL) – Security operatives have dispersed Yoruba Nation protesters at Gani Fawehinmi Park, venue of their mega rally.
Traditionalists dressed in their white attire, stormed the venue in their numbers when the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, was addressing journalists at the Gani Fawehinmi Park, saying, “No rally is allowed” in Lagos.
However, the traditionalists, accompanied by other protesters, dared the security operatives by spreading banners and flyers to announce their arrival and presence, as they chanted: “Oduduwa Nation now,” “Yoruba Nation Now.”
Immediately after the Commissioner left, shots were fired and hot water from a sprayer tank was sprayed to disperse the protesters.
Some of the agitators were seen dragged into an armoured tank by policemen.
However, the protesters, who fled the scene in different directions, went to regroup at the bridge also at Ojota.
The traditionalists, while speaking to policemen, urged them to protect them rather than teargas them.
The Lagos State Police Command had in separate statements on Thursday and Friday warned the agitators to shelve the rally, siting intelligence report that the protest would be infiltrated by hoodlums.
THEWILL reports that the rally had earlier been suspended by one of its leading lights, Sunday Igboho, following a raid by the Department of State Services, on his house in Ibadan, Oyo State.
He has also been declared wanted by the secret police for allegedly stockpiling arms.
But the umbrella body of Yoruba self-determination groups, Ilana Omo Oodua, led by Second Republic Senator, Banji Akintoye, had said there was no going back, adding that, “It is the duty of police to ensure the rally is not hijacked by hoodlums.
“Our rally scheduled to hold on Saturday will still hold without any fear or intimidation and we promise to be peaceful like we have always been,” the Akintoye-led body wrote in a letter to the Commissioner of Police in the state, Hakeem Odumosu, and Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Akintoye, Igboho and their followers have been going across the South-West geo-political zone to hold their secessionist campaign, citing injustice meted out to the people of the region as well as worsening insecurity as reasons for their agitation.
But the Federal Government has insisted on the unity and indissolubility of Nigeria
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