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By Christoper Oji
The Lagos State government has warned those behind the planned August 1 protest to shelve the idea, as the state will not tolerate breakdown of law and order.
Also, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Adegoke Fayoade, has appealed to those behind the planned protest to drop the plan, in the interest of peace.
The appeal was made yesterday at the POWA Secretariat, Ikeja, Lagos, at a meeting with stakeholders in security, ethnic groups, religious bodies, traditional and community leaders, students and the business community.
Fayoade advised parents, religious leaders and community heads to warn their children not to get involved in the proposed protest with faceless organisers.
According to him, “A faceless protest is dangerous and can lead to breakdown of law and order and the police will not fold their hands and watch hoodlums destroy property of taxpayers.
“We are deliberating on issues concerning the planned protest, but we have not been able to phantom those behind it. That is why we don’t want a repeat of EndSARS protest that brought untold hardship to the populace. We don’t want Nigeria to be seen by the international community as not being secure for investment.
“We also don’t want hoodlums to take over the state and start killing and looting. I repeat, we don’t want breakdown of law and order and that’s why we are calling on religious leaders, local government chairmen and members of the public to sensitize the youths and students to shelve the planned protest.
“We won’t allow the protest to hold, because it’s a minus for the state. It would disturb business and freedom of movement. We know that things are difficult. Prices of goods have skyrocketed, but violence is not the solution. We don’t want what happened in Kenya to happen in Lagos and Nigeria at large.”
Meanwhile, the Lagos State director of the Department of State Service, Dapo Amao, said in the last two weeks the proposed protest has caused a lot of panic and apprehension.
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He said, “We are appealing to people to shelve the protest. It is your right to protest but how peaceful can it be?
“That is why we want people to avoid the protest and the situation is tense. A good protest can bring development, while a bad one kills and destroys. Let us give government time to bring development for us all.”
The Lagos State chapter chairman of the National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS), Comrade Alimi Idris, said students in Lagos State would not join a cause they don’t fully understand. He said, “We students of Lagos State already have internal battles we are facing, and I am here to state categorically that the 11 tertiary institutions in Lagos will not join a protest we don’t know the beginning and the ending.
“We don’t have time to join a protest when we are already dealing with the Academic Staff Union of Universities strike and the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics strike. We don’t want anything else that will delay our academics, thereby having to graduate in seven years for a four-year course.
“I want to appeal to students in Lagos State University and polytechnic not to join any protest we don’t know anything about.
“Many presidents of various institutions in Lagos State have already started calling me, saying they are being contacted by unknown numbers about the protest. But I am here to state that we are not joining the protest because we don’t know the organizers.”
Also, the Lagos State Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Bolaji Ogunlende, appealed to those behind to upcoming demonstration to drop their plan as it may cause more destruction than good.
He stated that the government of the state was concerned about the faceless people organizing the protest, noting that the town hall meeting was a proactive measure to check their activities and plans.
“Lagos State has also done a lot for the youths in the state and also empowered them in various capacities and employed some of them into this government; we appeal to the faceless people to stop the protest,” he said.
