Heavily armed security operatives on Tuesday stormed the iconic Gani Fawehinmi Park in the Ojota area of Lagos State ahead of a planned protest over the barbaric murder of 22-year-old Bamise Ayanwole.
The PUNCH gathered that the security operatives were deployed by the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigerian Army, Department of State Services, amongst others.
They came with scores of patrol vans, heavy anti-riot gun trucks and Black Marias.
Spokesman for the Lagos State Police Command, Adekunle Ajisebutu, in a chat with The PUNCH, said the Command had intelligence that sympathisers and aggrieved persons planned to stage a protest at the park.
The PPRO said the Command was not against the right of citizens to peaceful protest but it won’t allow any breakdown of law and order.
“We are taking a proactive step to forestall the breakdown of law and order in the state,” Ajisebutu told our correspondent who asked why policemen were deployed at the park.
Many Nigerians have been outraged by the killing of the Ayanwole, a Bus Rapid Transit passenger who got missing while returning to Ota from Ajah on February 26 when she boarded a BRT bus with number 240257 going to Oshodi at about 7pm at Chevron Bus-Stop.
The victim, who worked as a fashion designer in Ajah spent her weekends in Ota, Ogun State, with her sister, had sent some voice notes to a friend when she sensed danger on the bus.
The police on Monday announced that the driver of the vehicle, one Andrew Nice, has been arrested and the dead body of the victim found.
According to the PPRO, the suspected ritualists dumped the dismembered and uncompleted remains of the lady on the Carter Bridge by Ogogoro Community.
But hours after he confessed to having raped the deceased in a viral video, the driver recanted, fueling speculations of coverup.
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