Perhaps in a bid to avert the backlash of #ENDSARS protest in 2020, the Delta State Police Command has placed a restriction on any form of peaceful, placard-carrying gathering in the state ahead of June 12, Democracy Day.
This is coming in spite of the rights to peaceful assembly and association and the right to freedom of movement being parts of the fundamental human rights of Nigerians as contained in the constitution of Nigeria, 1999 and also in the African charter on human and people’s rights.
Acting Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Bright Edafe, in a statement on Friday, alleged that some miscreants, without mentioning names, were planning to disrupt the peace of the state through protest on June 12, Democracy Day.
He said because the command was committed to maintaining and sustaining the peace the state was currently enjoying, the “command is more than ever willing to go after any miscreant who might be found wanting.”
According to him, “the Delta State Police Command is aware of the planned protest by some agitated members of the public on 12, June 2021, and is also aware that this protest is being staged by criminally minded individuals, hiding under the guise of peaceful protest thereby causing havoc in the state.
“The command, under the watch of CP Ari Muhammed Ali, will not allow any miscreant to distort the already existing peace in the state.
“Members of the public, particularly residents of Delta State, are to be aware that on no account should any group be seen, gathering or carrying placard in the name of protest, as such will not be allowed in the state.
“Officers and men of the command have been placed on red alert and have been ordered to arrest and deal decisively with any criminally-minded elements who wish to go against this order.”
Edafe quoted the CP as “urging members of the public to partner with the police to see that those who try to bring disunity in the state and our dear nation be arrested and brought to book.”
He further warned that “undercover police detectives have been deployed across the state for the purpose of arresting any person or persons staging any form of protest.”
It will be recalled that the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) have announced and insisted on staging protests across the country over the unabating insecurity, harsh economic weather, ban on Twitter and other anti-democratic activities of the government of the day.
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