IN a bid to stop the protest being planned by the Save Nigeria Group (SNG) over the recently discovered N1.070 trillion fuel subsidy fraud, armed policemen have taken over the Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park in Ojota, Lagos.
It was learnt that the policemen arrived at the park in the early hours of Monday.
The SNG leader, Pastor Tunde Bakare, was reported to have said that the Federal Government had been served with a notice of a mass protest if it failed to prosecute all the culprits of the subsidy fraud, and that the culprits should refund the money within a specified time.
Bakare stated that the civil society group had started reading the report and that another ‘Occupy Nigeria’ was imminent if government failed to prosecute the culprits. He added that the group met last Saturday to discuss the strategy for the mass protest and that “by Wednesday, we would come out with our findings. But right now, we are back to the trenches.”
The SNG spokesman, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, yesterday described the report of the Farouk Lawan-led house ad-hoc committee on subsidy protest as searing.
“It is an open book on the rape of a nation by mindless people. We expect that the Federal Government will want to treat the report as a family affair, but we, SNG, will ensure that this is the final nail on the coffin of corruption in Nigeria.
“If the report is not implemented fully within the time frame given, SNG will mobilise Nigerians to come out and speak up against corruption.”
He said that those indicted should not just be made to make refunds, but should also be prosecuted.
However, those passing by the park were allowed free movement. Users of the bus terminal who spoke on a condition of anonymity said that the police must have arrived in the middle of the night to occupy the park to avoid the civil society group taking over the park.
One police armoured tank was stationed near the park along the service lane of the expressway, facing Maryland, with policemen in full combat gear. Two patrol pickup vans, stationed on the other side of the park, along the road leading to the waste disposal site was also filled with armed policemen.
By: Yetunde Ayobami-Ojo via Guardian News
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