Lagos State Police Stop Alleged Anti-Tinubu Gathering

Eniola Olayemi

Lagos state police on Thursday stopped a group which met at the Ikeja Airport Hotel allegedly to launch a campaign to stop a national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, from influencing the outcome of the governorship election in the state on March 9, 2019.

Policemen were said to have mounted strategic positions around the hotel earlier to forestall the planned rally organized by the group, under the aegis of Orange Movement.

The group is believed to have been inspired by a similar action in Kwara State which led to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, being denied the chance to return to the upper legislative chamber in last Saturday’s National Assembly election.

Those who were opposed to the Senate President’s re-election in Kwara State had launched a campaign, adopting the tag of “O to ge” which means “enough is enough” in Yoruba, implying that it was time to end the domination of the state’s politics by the Saraki political structure.

Speaking to reporters  on the incident in Lagos, the spokesperson of the Lagos State Police command, Chike Oti, said the command did not receive any notification before the rally.

He added that at some point another group emerged at the scene, raising the tension around the area.

“We had no option than to disperse them to avoid the situation degenerating into violence,” said the police spokesperson.