June 12: We won’t allow EndSARS experience – Police

By : NAN

Date: 11 June 2021 1:45pm WAT

Protesters chant and sing solidarity songs as they barricade barricade the Lagos-Ibadan expressway to protest against police brutality and the killing of protesters by the military, at Magboro, Ogun State, on October 21, 2020. - Buildings in Nigeria's main city of Lagos were torched on October 21, 2020 and sporadic clashes erupted after the shooting of peaceful protesters in which Amnesty International said security forces had killed several people. Witnesses said gunmen opened fire on a crowd of over 1,000 people on the evening of October 20, 2020, to disperse them after a curfew was imposed to end spiralling protests over police brutality and deep-rooted social grievances. (Photo by PIUS UTOMI EKPEI / AFP)

Ondo State Police Command has said that it will not fold its arms and watch any protest, under whatever guise, in the state to degenerate to the #EndSARS mayhem.

The Command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Tee Leo-Ikoro, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the telephone on Friday that the police were battle-ready to forestall any breakdown of law and order by any individual or group.

NAN recalls that several government property were destroyed by suspected hoodlums who hijacked the peaceful protest against police brutality, popularly known as ‘EndSARS’, held across the country in October 2020.

Leo-Ikoro said that the command had deployed its men in all the nooks and crannies of the state to ensure that hoodlums did not hijack any possible protest.

According to him, “we hear that some students are embarking on a peaceful protest on June 12. We want to believe that it will be peaceful, as they have said.

“We must, however, warn anyone with the intent of causing mayhem or engaging in any act that can lead to breakdown of law and order or destruction of government property to have a rethink.

‘We are fully on ground and we have deployed our men in all the nooks and crannies of the state to maintain law and order. Any violator will be severely dealt with in accordance with the law.

“We will not fold our arms and watch any protest, under whatever guise, to escalate to the level of the last #EndSARS protest. We will arrest and prosecute anyone found culpable,” Leo-Ikoro said.

He urged parents and guardians to warn their children to desist from any act capable of causing mayhem and destruction of government property.