The Lagos State Government has hinted of intensive efforts being made to abort the planned #OccupyLekkiTollGate protest as well as a competing #DefendLagos rally.
The government said it met with traditional rulers and youth and civil society organisations to prevent a replay of the October 2020 #EndSARS protest that turned bloody and fatal.
Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso, opened up on the authorities’ peace efforts when he featured on an ARISE News programme, The Morning Show.
The #OccupyLekkiTollGate has been slated for Saturday, February 13 to protest the reopening of the toll gate after the controversial ruling of the Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry in favour of the Lekki Concession Company, LCC, repossessing the facility for repairs and insurance claims.
Fears, however, have cropped up that violence could ensue at the site as a group has also announced a counter protest, #DefendLagos rally, for the same venue.
“Let us protect what the destroyers left behind while we rebuild Lagos. Join the ‘defend Lagos’ rally at the Lekki toll plaza,” read the #DefendLagos banner shared on various social media platforms.
Omotoso, however, told ARISE News that the state government was engaging with people it “thinks can influence things so that we will not have the kind of carnage we had in October last year.”
According to him, Lagos government would leave no stone unturned to avert another mayhem.
Omotosho said: “We all saw the carnage that happened in October last year. We saw how human lives were wasted, including policemen, and because of that, the Lagos State Government has been suing for peace.
“We have been meeting traditional rulers; we have been meeting youth organisations; we have been talking to civil society organisations; we have been engaging people we think can influence things for us not to have the kind of carnage that we had in October last year.
“Because Lagos, the way it is now, will require the peace that will make us grow our economy, will require the peace for Lagosians to display their creativity, to display all of those things that Lagos is known for, nobody wants to go back to that October last year scene again.
“So we are appealing to both sides not to cause trouble in Lagos, to allow peace to reign so that we can continue to look ahead, to focus ahead on the economic and social issues that are facing us. And this is going to be a big distraction if we allow it to go on.
“So we are appealing to both sides to please sheath their swords and embrace peace and to know that Lagos belongs to all of us and not just protesters.”
