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Chinelo Obogo
Officers of the Nigeria Police Force yesterday barricaded the premises of Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja, venue of a press conference organised by the Free Lagos Orange Movement.
The press conference was about to commence at the Oranmiyan Hall of the hotel when officers of the Nigeria Police stormed the venue and ordered everyone out.
The conveners of the group, former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba, spokesperson of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, and Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), were yet to arrive the venue before the police barricaded the entrance and ordered everyone to leave, even as they stopped many memebers of the group who had arrived for what was supposed to be a press conference in three buses from entering the venue.In the ensuing drama, the policemen fired several shots to disperse the crowd.
However, the state’s police spokesman, Chike Oti, said the command got an intelligence report that some hoodlums were trying to hijack the press briefing.
He said the police could not stop anybody from using the Airport Hotel’s facilities but the command was also obliged to protect life and property of citizens. One of the conveners, Mark Adebayo, said the group would sue the police for the siege.
