As the rumour of plans to commemorate #EndSARS on Wednesday, October 20 thickens, a pro-workers non-governmental organization, Labour & Workers Welfare Advocacy Centre has thrown its weight behind the Lagos State Police Command that has warned against the proposed anniversary.
The NGO’s boss, Comrade Omobanke Razak, in a statement in Lagos weekend reasoned with the Police authority on the basis of what happened during the ill-fated protest last year that led to serious agony and blood bath, insisting to reasonable, responsible and responsive security agency could allow the repeat of the mayhem.
According to Omobanke, the event on October 20, 2020, could not be forgotten easily by the people of Lagos when protesters calling for the end to the cruelty of a special section of the police mandated to curb crime in the country, Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), hit the streets on good note but ended on a sad note.
The rank and file of the exercise, code named #EndSARS, the were regrettably infiltrated by miscreants, who lamentably turned the planned peaceful outing to a theatre of war where blood flew endlessly and properties and heritages of the state and individuals were destroyed wantonly, wondering could any patriotic human beings could be part of any plan for commemoration of such a blood sucking event!
Though the NGO admitted that protest is part of democracy and legitimate means of seeking justice and redressing injustice, it believes that such protest has to peaceful and tailored along all legal norms, stating that, when the experience has shown that the organizers would lose control and the peace of the state would be under threat, the best thing is to prevent occurrence of such.
Against that background, the NGO has cautioned against it by supporting the police in their stand to prevent the commemoration to take place, asserting that, it is the responsibility of the police and all other responsible security outfits in the country to team up together to stop the proposed anniversary, sayin prevention is better than cure.
The organization therefore warned the proponents to rest the idea in the cooler to avoid being labelled as haters of the state being sponsored by some paymasters for a hidden agenda, vowing that, if the organizers refuse to discard the idea, “we have the capability to stop them and expose those behind the proposed destructive jamboree.”
The statement further wondered if any sane clime would allow the repetition of the exercise that put the peace and security of an environment in jeopardy, urging the good people of Lagos to rise up in support of the police in their determination to keep the state secured and its peace guaranteed.
Concluding, the NGO warned that, all the well-meaning residents of Lagos would not allow any conduct, either from an individual or group of individuals that could detract the workaholic governor of the state, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu from his commitment to develop the state to the taste of the people, saying, any act of sabotage would be strongly resisted.
