Oodua Rally: Police Parade 49 Suspects, Recover Guns, Charms

Rebecca Ejifoma

The Lagos State Police Command, yesterday, paraded 49 suspected protesters including two women that were arrested at the Oodua Republic’s mega rally at Ojota on Saturday.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hakeem Odumosu, said that the suspects were found with guns, axes, Oodua flags, Yoruba armed forces’ tees and other items during stop and search operations while others were nabbed at the protest ground in Ojota.

Odumosu noted that certain individuals came into the state with the intention to foment troubles under the guise of the rally.

He added that the recovery of dangerous weapons, charms and other items justified the command’s earlier stance against the rally.

He further explained that information at the command’s disposal revealed that some of the suspects came into Lagos from Oyo State.

Some of the suspects are Bamidele Akomolafe, 52; Dauda Abubakare, 25; Adebanjo Adedayo, 42; Lawal Akeem, 21; Abdulsemiu Akanbi, 43; Emmanuel Chidiemere, 27; Taofeek Abdulsalami, 25; Adesina Ibrahim, 33 and Adeyemi Segun, 22.

Other items recovered from them include an Opel car with registration number FFF921RY, an unregistered Toyota 4Runner SUV and one Honda Accord with registration number SMK248FC.

Others recovered items include a Nissan Pathfinder SUV with registration number ABJ348DB, two Suzuki mini buses with registration numbers AKD458YD and LSR980YC, one beaded crown and beaded walking stick.

The commissioner of police listed a white box containing assorted charms, some Oodua nation’s flags and banners, clothes and caps with Oodua Nation inscriptions, some voodoo charm jackets and one traditional calabash that was covered with beads.

He also disclosed that a black bag containing weeds suspected to be Indian hemp, some mobile phones, clothes, two axes, one pump action rifle, two locally made pistols, four live cartridges and an expended cartridge among others were found.

Odumosu said that the Area H Commander acted on a tip off around 11:10 p.m. that Saturday and recovered arms hidden behind a car stationed near King David Executive Express, Ojota.

The items found the car include an AK47 rifle with 18 7.62mm live ammunition and two locally made pistols with 15 live cartridges.

He said: “With these recoveries coupled with the conducts of the so-called agitators and others that despite repeated warnings from the command and Lagos State Government, trooped out for the planned rally, one could easily infer that they were not in Lagos for a rally, rather for another mission feared towards destabilising the state, if not nipped in the bud.

“These discoveries and recoveries have authenticated the intelligence reports at the disposal of the command. They have also vindicated the command for banning the rally in its press briefing on Thursday, July 1.

“As much as the command respects and protects the rights of every citizen in the state, it will not fold its arms to allow any group of persons or certain individuals to truncate the peace being enjoyed in the state now.

“But for the police’s proactive security strategies emplaced by the command towards this botched rally, the entire state would have been engulfed in crises similar to the 2020 #EndSARS violence.

“The suspects being paraded will be handed over to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, for discreet investigation and possible prosecution.”

Odumosu clarified that the suspects would be profiled and thoroughly investigated by the police before they would be charged to court.

He disclosed that investigations were still ongoing on the case of a young girl that was killed in Ojota by stray bullets, adding that forensic examination would be conducted in order to ascertain some missing ingredients