The organisers of the last #EndSARS protests mobilising colleagues to partake in the #OccupyLekkiProtest expected to hold today, Saturday, February 13, 2021 are angry over the Nigerian government deployment of security operatives to stop the planned protest.
They premised the decision for a renewed protest on the decision of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry who has giving a nod for the Lekki Concession Company (LCC) to reopen the Lekki tollgate.
The Judicial Panel of Inquiry had, after about four months of investigating the Lekki shootings, decided to allow the LCC to resume toll collection at the tollgate, a development which had been condemned by the youthful protesters.
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However, as a result of the planned protest, the Federal Government had deployed policemen supported by men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), for maintenance of law and order.
But, protesters have alleged that the plan of the government was to stop the protest from holding.
In what looked like a way of supporting government’s plan, a group of people who have also mobilised themselves on the social media, especially, Twitter, using #DefendLagos hashtag, have planned a counter-march against the people planning the #OccupyLekkiProtest.
Nigerian government and the police had warned the agitated youths against the planned Saturday morning protest, saying its decision was to forestall a possible breakdown of law and order.
Irrespective of government’s stance, Nigerian youths who have regrouped under the #EndSARS Season 2 umbrella, said they were determined to defy government’s order and go ahead with their planned protest.
Late last year 2020, precisely in October, the #EndSARS protests had spread across Nigeria, with youths expressing their anger against the alleged atrocities of the now disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigeria Police Force.
The protest, which gained a lot of international attention, came to a end on October 20, 2020 after heavily armed soldiers invaded the Lekki tollgate where Nigerian youths had gathered in protest, as it was alleged the troop shot at the crowd and killed innocent protesters,
