The Commissioner of Police In charge of the Lagos State Police Command have said disrupting the press conference being held at Lagos Airport Hotel on Thursday morning was because the organisers did not sort permission from the police.
The State Police Boss, CP Zubairu Muazu who stated this during a press conference in Lagos said the command had gotten information that the gathering was a protest and not a press conference as alleged by the organisers.
It had been reported that the press conference which was being organised by a group known as ‘Orange Movement for a Free Lagos State’ was spearheaded by members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and other stakeholders in the state.
The conveners of the group comprised of former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba, Spokesperson of Afenifere Group, Mr. Yinka Odumakin and Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
It was gathered that while guests were stepping into thevenue of the conference, policemen led by the Area Command, Area F stormed the hotel and started shooting sporadically.
Muazu who defended the police inference to a supposed lawful gathering said it was a protest and that the organisers did not take permission from the police as the law requires. “ Early today, I received a report that a group of people suspected to be members of a political party were gathering around Airport Hotel. With the incidence of yesterday at Okokomaiko, certainly the police will become apprehensive with the motive of this gathering.
“ Public order act is also very clear that you can not have a gathering, a rally without prior knowledge of the police.So I quickly directed the Area Commander at Ikeja to move in and ensure that the grouping is dispersed immediately because we cannot afford to have a procession that we are not sure of who they are and their motive.
“ If you write to the police as an organisation that you want to protest, it is allowed, peaceful protest is your right given to you by the constitution. But not by faceless people who did not follow procedures so our officers went there to disperse them, to nip in the bud any crisis.
“ If citizens want to do protest anywhere, they are supposed to write to us so that we provide security as they are doing their peaceful protest. This will also assure the general public that they are peaceful protesters and avoid hoodliums hijacking the process especially at this time when we have the elections.”
