Twenty-three #EndSARS protesters arrested by the Police in Ogun State on Saturday, have been released, Governor Dapo Abiodun, confirmed on Sunday.
“I can confirm that, following my instruction to the Commissioner of Police,” the governor tweeted on his handle, “detained protest organisers have been released from detention.”
The protesters were arrested on Saturday with the Police claiming the peaceful protest had turned violent.
“Surprisingly, the protesters who were appealed jointly by the Alake and Paramount ruler of Egba land and the Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun left the Alake palace and headed to the palace of Olowu where the traditional festival of Owu day was ongoing and violently disrupted the ceremony which had ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Ogun State Deputy Governor, Noimot Salako- Oyedele in attendance,” Ogun Police image-maker, Abimbola Oyeyemi noted.
“They also damaged the back windshield of the deputy governor’s official car before heading to SARS office at Magbon where they fired some gunshots at the men and injured one Sgt Akabudike Augustine. Consequently, men of the outfit dispersed them and arrested 23 amongst them.
“Some of their vehicles abandoned at SARS office were recovered and searched, three guns namely; one pump action, two locally made pistols, some rounds of ammunition and assorted charms were recovered in one of the vehicles with registration number Lagos KRD 551GJ.”
Meanwhile, the #EndSARS protests spanned for days in Africa’s most populous nation with the call for the scrapping of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) – a unit of the Nigeria Police – attracting global attention.
But Nigeria’s Police chief, Mohammed Adamu, on Sunday, yielded to pressure, dissolving the tactical unit largely loathed by many in the West African nation.
“The Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigerian Police, otherwise known as SARS, is hereby dissolved across all formations, the 36 state police command and the Federal Capital Territory where they currently exist,” the Inspector General of Police (IGP) said, acknowledging reports of extortion and brutality.
“All officers and men currently serving in the unit are to be redeployed with immediate effect.”
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