BREAKING: Armed Policemen Block Road Leading To African Shrine Over Planned #EndSARS Meeting
Officers of the Nigeria Police Force have blocked the road leading to African Shrine, Ikeja, Lagos, in a bid to prevent a meeting on #EndSARS protest from taking place.
The meeting, which was organised by Seun Kuti, son of Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, was originally scheduled to be held on Tuesday at the African Shrine.
There are over 20 police vans with armed policemen present to prevent people from accessing the venue.
Recall that the Lagos State Police Command on Monday threatened to close the African Shrine if the meeting went ahead.
In a letter to the Kuti family and manager of the facility, the police said the programme was not allowed and will be tagged a deliberate action to sabotage the restoration of peace in Lagos.
The police cited the recent violence arising from the #EndSARS protest as its reason for ordering the suspension of the programme.
“It is on this premise that I write that such a gathering or meeting planned to be hosted at your venue is not welcome at this perilous time when the security of the nation is trying to find her feet to stabilize all threat to life and properties.
“You are hereby warned to suspend such gathering as any infraction that may emerge from this gathering will be tagged a deliberate action to sabotage the transition and restoration of the peace in Lagos by the state government and the Nigeria Police Force,” the letter to the Kuti family partly reads.
Lagos Police Threatens To Close African Shrine Over Hosting Of Meeting On #EndSARS | Sahara Reporters https://t.co/K3tDW5apjn pic.twitter.com/jkTFBh2IPC
— Sahara Reporters (@SaharaReporters) November 16, 2020
Reacting to the letter by the police, Seun said he will go ahead with his programme but at a different venue.
He said, “I respect my family’s decision not to hold the event but I will still go ahead with all the other organisations to launch the Movement of the People tomorrow and start our political resistance to the tyranny of this oppressive regime.
“This is a meeting, just a meeting of organisations and they are basically banning the right of association. Why are they afraid of the people organising? What is democratic about this act?
“The last time we tried to launch the government quickly called curfew and this time they have used threats but you can’t stop the will of the people.”