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Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Ishola Olawale
Ahead of the protest slated for October 1, 2024, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Olanrewaju Ishola, has held a town hall meeting with stakeholders and security agencies at the command’s headquarters in Ikeja.
This was revealed in a video shared by the command on X on Friday.
Our correspondent gathered that one of the protest organisers in Lagos, Hassan Taiwo, also the National Coordinator of the Education Rights Campaign, was invited to the meeting.
Speaking on why he did not attend the meeting, Hassan, also known as Soweto, explained that he did not receive the information early enough.
“The meeting is for 4 p.m. I just got the information this morning,” the activist said in a chat.
Meanwhile, the police in Oyo have also invited the state chairman of the African Action Congress, Kayode Babayomi, to a “peace meeting” 24 hours after the party declared its support for the planned protest.
In the invitation letter seen by our correspondent, signed by the Assistant Commissioner of Police, State Intelligence Department, Martins Bamigboye, the AAC chair was invited to a meeting scheduled for Saturday.
The letter read, “The Oyo State Police Command, in line with its constitutional security responsibilities, is committed to excellence in achieving a safe and secure environment for peaceful coexistence in the state.
“It is in light of the above that you are respectfully invited to a peace meeting with the Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of the Department on Saturday, September 28, 2024.”
The protest, scheduled to be held as Nigeria marks 64 years of independence on October 1, has been dubbed “FearlessInOctober” by the Take It Back Movement.
Organisers have said the protest is a continuation of the nationwide rally in August against “bad governance” and hunger.
“None of the demands of our 10 days of rage in August has been met,” the ERC and other organisations said in a statement on Thursday.
“We believe October 1 should be a day for all suffering Nigerians to unite and fight for survival by demanding an end to these anti-poor policies,” the statement added.
