A human rights group, Yoruba Radical Assembly (YRA), has expressed suspicion of foul play in the way mayhem was unleashed on the city of Lagos by vandals who descended heavily on business outfits of mainly Yoruba indigenes in the name of #EndSARS protest!
Convener of the Assembly, Comrade Omolola Oriade, in a statement in Lagos Thursday raised the alarm that, the way the vandals carried out their coordinated actions on several properties of the indigenes, including a sacred palace of a first class monarch was nothing but a pre-determined action being carried out by a group of people with hidden agenda.
Making his point clear, Oriade mentioned some of the properties damaged, destroyed or set ablaze to include media houses, hotels, Television Continental, Ketu, Lagos – set ablaze, Recreational Center, Oregun, Lagos – set on fire Sanwo Olu Mother’s House, Surulere, Lagos – set ablaze, Oba’s Palace, Lagos vandalized and looted while Kings College among others were not spared!
The youth leader wondered how any right thinking person would believe that burning or destroying several Yoruba heritage buildings and private properties had connection with the #EndSARS protest or fall out from Army’s shooting, suspecting that, someone or group of people somewhere have declared war on Lagos State and by extension on the South-West.
According to him, only a fool will clap while his father’s house is being destroyed while houses of the vandals’ fathers are standing erect, alluding to situations in some areas like, theTrade Fair, Ladipo Market, Mazamaza, Alaba, Jibowu and Iddo parks that are intact!
Against this background, Oriade was of the conviction that the hoodlums that declared war on Lagos and by extension the southern part of the country as a whole must have been carrying out the order from the exiled leader of the IPOBS, Nnamdi Kanu, who was reportedly hear in a video clip instructing his followers to destroy any Yoruba property in sight.
The right activist therefore tasked the security agents to investigate this allegation with a view to apprehending the culprits and bringing them to book, warning that, if such actions are not checked in time, it could lead to other crises of an unimaginable proportion.
While calling for an end to the protest, Oriade said it would give the Federal Government conducive atmosphere to address all the demands placed before it, wondering, why further acts of vandalism still persist when the SARS being fought has been scrapped!