BY LINUS CHIBUIKE
THE Federal Government has put security agents on the alert to forestall a fresh protest, tagged, #OccupyLekkiTollgate, planned to hold from Saturday at the Lekki Tollgate, in Lagos.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, warned Nigerians not to participate in any such protest, arguing that it was being sponsored from outside the country.
He said though there was nothing wrong with peaceful protests, such protests were allowed in certain areas, and not at the tollgate.
The minister warned that the Federal Government would resist the latest plan, noting that the attack, looting and razing of 269 private and public property would not be allowed to happen again.
The killing of 57 civilians would not be re-enacted, he added.
The Federal Government, citing intelligence reports, said the protest could be hijacked to cause violence nationwide, like what happened during the recent #EndSARS protests.
“Any further resort to violence in the name of #EndSARS will not be tolerated this time. The security agents are ready for any eventuality. A situation in which six soldiers and 37 policemen were murdered in cold blood by hoodlums will not repeat itself,” Mohammed said.
“The attack, looting and razing of 269 private and public property will not happen again…No government anywhere will allow a repeat of the kind of destruction, killing and maiming wrought by the hijackers of #EndSARS protests last year,” he added.
Citing the violence at the US Capitol shortly before the inauguration of Joe Biden as President, the minister said only one policeman was killed in the invasion, yet the FBI had continued to hunt down and prosecute the perpetrators.
“No life is more important than the other,” he said.
He therefore warned planners of the widely reported #OccupyLekkiTollgate to shelve their plan, saying no one should fall for their antics.
“We strongly warn those who are planning to re-occupy Lekki Toll Gate on Saturday to desist. We know that many of those who have been loudest on social media in advertising the plan to reconvene in Lagos on Saturday are not even in Nigeria,” the minister said.
“They are elsewhere around the world fanning the embers of violence and inciting gullible people back home. No one should fall for their antics,” he warned.
