Less than 24 hours to the planned protest at the Lekki Toll Gate by #EndSARS 2 protesters, who have threatened #OccupyLekkiTollGate, police authorities in the state have launched a show of force exercise to express its disapproval of the protest.
Policemen from the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) staged a walk round the toll gate on Friday as they prepared to take positions in the area and other parts of the state on Saturday February 13, 2021.
This is also coming less than 24 hours after the Federal and State governments warned elements involved in the planned destructive protest not to embark on it, with Federal authorities particularly saying it would never allow a repeat of #EndSARS anywhere in the country.
The planned protest is in reaction to the decision of the Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution to return control of the Lekki Toll Gate plaza to its owners, the Lekki Concession Company (LCC).
The toll gate had been one of the major converging points for the protesters in Lagos last year and was also the location used by the sponsors of the protests that were disguised as addressing police brutality against innocent citizens to blackmail the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government and the Nigerian Army under the infamous claims of Lekki Toll Gate massacre that, up till today, has no single death to show.
During the proceedings last Saturday the Chairman of the panel, Justice Doris Okuwobi, gave a ruling allowing the LCC to repossess the toll gate.
Some Nigerians living in Lagos however have kicked against the #OccupyLekkuTollGate protest planners vowing to deal ruthlessly with them for thinking that they have monopoly of violence.
A source from among the counter-group lampooned some journalists, particularly of a television station in Lagos helping the #EndSARS protesters and their CNN megaphone amplify “their shameful impression that a single soul was shot to death let alone massacre in the toll gate last year”.
His expression of disappointment was informed by a report published on the website of ChannelsTV saying “many Nigerians believe that the toll gate should remain closed in honour of those who lost their lives to the incident, hence sparking the new movement, #OccupyLekki.”
The counter-group promoting the hashtag #DefendLagos for the resistance of the #EndSARS 2 also scheduled its protest at the same venue.
