BY AKINWALE ABOLUWADE
This year’s Democracy Day was largely bereft of the expected pump and celebration as a result of the tension and unease across the country that preceded it.
Investigations by The Point showed that many of the programmes that were lined up for the day, including social activities, were either canceled or shifted to a later date.
In Modakeke, a sleepy agrarian community bordering Ile-Ife, Odun Ogun, a yearly festival, earlier scheduled to hold on June 12 was shifted by one week to June 19. An elderly prince in the Ogunsua royal dynasty, Modakeke, in a message, said, “The Police have advised against coming out this Saturday. We have therefore shifted it to Saturday, June19.”
In the same vein, the National Association of Nigerian Students announced the suspension of its planned June 12 nationwide protest through its President, Sunday Asefon, in a statement made available to journalists on Friday in Abuja.
The statement titled, ‘NANS suspends June 12 protest over concerns about safety of protesters and fear of possible hijack by politicians,’ read in part, “The students’ body was not associated with the secessionist campaign. Having considered the current security realities and the danger to the lives of our members in case of possible hijack of the planned protest, I in consultation with all the structures of NANS, therefore, announce the suspension of our proposed protest for June 12.”
The student body had intended to protest against insecurity and for improved welfare for students.
In Ondo State, the Police Command had reiterated that it would not condone acts of brigandage or any protest in the state in a bid to avert a repeat of breakdown of law and order as experienced during last year’s #EndSARS protest.
The Command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Tee Leo-Ikoro, told the News Agency of Nigeria that the police were battle-ready to forestall any breakdown of law and order.
In support of that, a socio-cultural group, the Yoruba Appraisal Forum, on Friday in Lagos, warned those planning a nationwide protest in the South -West to have a rethink.
The National Coordinator of the group, Adesina Animashaun, in a statement in Lagos, said the South-West would never allow dissidents to mar the peace and peaceful coexistence in the region.
