Police warns NANS against protest over electricity, petrol price hikes

*Students plan to block Lagos─Ibadan and Benin─Ore Expressways, says Police PRO

Emmanuel Akosile | ConsumerConnect

Banking on reliable intelligence which it says indicates that some students are bent on disturbing the public peace across the state, the Ogun State Police Command has warned members of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) over the planned protest against the recent hikes in prices of electricity and petrol.

DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, Police Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Command, in a press statement Saturday, September 12, 2020, disclosed that the protest is billed for Monday, September 14.

The Command’s PRO said: “The police is in receipt of reliable intelligence that some students are bent on disturbing the public peace in parts of Ogun state, starting from Monday 14th September 2020.”

DSP Oyeyemi warned those who are being linked to the planned protest to have a rethink of their plan.

He stated: “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 prices and electricity tariffs, threatening to unleash mayhem in Ogun State after the expiration of the ultimatum on Sunday, 13th September, 2020.”

The Police Spokesman said that the students also plan to block the Lagos─Ibadan and Benin─Ore Expressways.

“It is part of their violent 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 beginning from Monday 14th September is achieved,” said Oyeyemi.

According to him, any form of protest against the hike in prices as announced by the Federal Government is not welcome, and would be resisted.

He noted that “the decision by any group of students to embark on protest over a recent increase in fuel prices and electricity tariffs is unwarranted, and therefore, unacceptable to the Ogun State Police Command.

“No group will be allowed to 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, thereby causing confusion, disturbances, and public apprehension.”

Officers will be on standby to arrest any individual or group that tries to put fear in the heart of the residents, he said.

The Police Spokesman added: “These Officers and men of the command have consequently been put on red alert in view of this unwarranted threat.

“Members of the public are advised to call the bluff of the group and go about their lawful businesses without fear of harm or molestation by any person, including Olawale and his cohorts.”

“Motorists and all road users alike have however been reminded of their rights to freedom of movement and self-defence of their persons and properties against molestation and violence by any persons acting under any guise, including miscreants and hoodlums.”