The Ogun State Police Command has threatened to deal with any member of the National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) who tries to protest the recent hike in fuel price as well as the increase in electricity tariff.
The command, in a statement on Saturday, said it was in receipt of reliable intelligence that “some disgruntled elements were bent on disturbing public peace in parts of Ogun state, starting from Monday, September 14.”
The police, in the statement signed by the Ogun Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said, ‘In the course of identifying the persons involved and warn them against the planned action, a group of individuals who claim to be NANS executives South-West Zone D, led by one Kappo Samuel Olawale, in a letter addressed to the Command, has given the Federal Government a five-day ultimatum to reverse the recent hike in fuel price and electricity tariffs; threatening to unleash mayhem in Ogun State after the expiration of the ultimatum on Sunday 13th September 2020.’
According to Oyeyemi, it is part of the students’ plans to block all major highways, including the Lagos-Ibadan and Lagos-Benin expressways; ‘recruit miscreants, street urchins, hoodlums, expelled, suspended and perpetual students over-running their courses at tertiary institutions in Ogun State and other states from the South-West, to swell their ranks and ensure their desired objective of spreading violence in the State’ is achieved.
He said the decision by any group of students to embark on protest over the recent hike in fuel prices and electricity tariffs is unwarranted and therefore unacceptable to the Ogun State Police Command.
‘The deliberate and selfishly designed violence-oriented protest planned for Monday 14th September, 2020, is not approved by the Ogun state Police Command, and will be resisted vehemently.’
‘No group will be allowed to perpetually hold the entire good people of Ogun state in perpetual fear of violence and harm to their persons and properties. Olawale and his group are hereby advised, in their own interest, to drop their plan to block any highway in the state, and thereby cause confusion, disturbances and public apprehension. The law is not on their side on this.’
‘Officers and men of the command have consequently be put on red alert in view if this unwarranted threat.’
‘The police in conjunction with other security agencies have resolved, and have the capacity, to deal with such elements in the most decisive manner.’
‘Parents and guardians are therefore advised to call their children and wards to order. A word is enough for the wise!” the statement read in part.’
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK