Not fewer than 23 members of of the #EndSARS protesters have been arrested by operatives of the Ogun State Police Command after the protest turned violent.
The spokesman of the Command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, revealed this in a statement on Sunday, saying the confiscation of the arms and arrest of the suspects was carried out on Saturday after the protest calling for the dissolution of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad turned violent.
According to Oyeyemi, the protesters gathered in their hundreds as early as 7am at Panseke area of Abeokuta in continuation of their protest despite the advice from the Police Command and other stakeholders to them to cancel the protest for fear of been hijacked by hoodlums and miscreants.
He said surprisingly, the protesters, who were appealed to jointly by the Alake and Paramount Ruler of Egbaland, Oba Gbadebo Adedotun, and the Command’s Commissioner, Edward Ajogun, left the Alake’s palace and headed to the palace of the Olowu, where the traditional Owu Festival was ongoing and violently disrupted the ceremony, which had former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Deputy Governor of Ogun State, Eng. Noimot Salako, in attendance.
They were accused of damaging the back windshield of the deputy governor’s official car before heading to the SARS office at Magbon, where they fired some gunshots at the men and injured one Sergeant Akabudike Augustine.
Consequently, men of the outfit dispersed them and subsequently arrested 23 amongst them.
Some of their vehicles abandoned at SARS office were recovered and searched.
Three guns, namely: one pump action and two locally made pistols; some rounds of ammunition; and assorted charms were recovered in one of the vehicles, with registration number: Lagos KRD 551 GJ.
Ajogun has thus again appealed to parents, community leaders and other stakeholders to call their wards to order because the Command will not fold its arms while hoodlums unleash violence on officers and men for just no reason.