A boat carrying some electoral materials to the riverine Ilaje communities of Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State has capsized.
It was gathered that the boat carried some ad-hoc staffs of the Independent National Electoral Commission with some election materials in the Igbokoda area of the local government.
But the source said there were no casualties in the incident as the men of the Nigeria Navy rescued all the victims and the election materials.
When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the state Police Command, Mr Tee-Leo Ikoro, confirmed the incident, describing it as “a minor accident”.
He said, “It happened but it was a minor mishap because there was no casualty, and nothing happened to the election materials, everything is intact.”
It was gathered that 17 political parties, including the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party, are fielding candidates in today’s governorship election in Ondo State.
However, there are only three main contestants and analysts have predicted the poll will largely be a three-horse race.
The three parties are the ruling APC, PDP, and the Zenith Labour Party, with Akeredolu, Eyitayo Jegede, and Deputy Governor Agboola Ajayi as the respective candidates.
Rights group, Amnesty International, has offered tips to Nigerians taking part in anti-police brutality protest nationwide.
Nigerians across the country have poured out to the streets for days now to demand the disbandment of the Special Anti Robbery Squad unit of the police over incessant rights violations.
AI in a tweet on Saturday said, “Know that police officers are responsible for upholding the law and protecting the rights of all members of society, not picking and choosing who they want to protect and who they do not.
“Everyone has the right to carry their opinion on to the streets.
“You have a right to document the protest – the authorities can’t keep you from filming or writing down what police actions, police brutality, or injuries are inflected on protestors.”
The Rights Group Offered The Following Tips:
“Be sure to wear sneakers – this will help you stay comfortable as you stand on your feet all day, but also allow you to move quickly if needed, to escape.
“Be mindful of the accessories you have on – loose, dangling jewellery may easily be grabbed. #EndSARS
“Before heading to a protest, be mindful of the clothing and accessories you wear. Be sure to wear clothing that covers all your skin – this will protect you not only from the sun and rain but also from tear gas if used against peaceful protestors.
“Charge your phone, carry a spare battery or power bank. Keep important information on a piece of paper, for example, your lawyer mobile number and family member. Make sure you have enough credit on your phone.”
What To Bring To Protest
“Water, water, water and more water. This will keep you hydrated and a bottle with a squirt top will allow you to wash off your skin or eyes if needed.
“Watch, paper, pen for accurate documentation of events, police brutality, injuries.
“Your personal safety should always be a priority while taking pictures and videos in a peaceful assembly or sending text messages and web updates.”
Dealing With Teargas
“Be sure to stay calm. Panicking increases irritation.
“Breathe slowly and remember it is only temporary.
“See it coming, and monitor if police are putting gas masks.”
Heavy rainfall disrupted the ongoing election process in Ijebu area of Owo Local Government of Ondo State, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
NAN reports that the rain destroyed some election materials with the voting booths in some polling thoroughly soaked, while staff of INEC took refuge and struggled to secure the materials.
The voters also scampered to various directions to take shelter from the rain.
NAN reports that voting later commenced with security personnel keeping vigil at all polling units around the area.
At polling unit 002 in Ward 5, Ijebu-Owo area, NAN observed that voters wore their face masks, while INEC staff also made hand sanitizers and soap available for use.
Speaking with newsmen, Opeyemi Amadu, Presiding Officer, Ijebu 2 Unit 006 Ward 5, said that accreditation and voting would go on simultaneously.
She explained that the use of facemasks was compulsory while any voter showing symptoms of COVID-19, like incessant coughing, would be politely asked to leave the queue.
Opeyemi, who also said that branded face masks were prohibited, declared the voting open by 8:35 a.m,
NAN reports that voters were checked with a thermometer and given hand sanitizers while social distancing was observed.
The rain had stopped around 8:12 a.m while the first vote at that polling was cast by 8:51 a.m.
Today, residents of Ondo State will be going into their seventh governorship election in 44 years to elect the state’s numero uno citizen for the next four years in a race that is considered to be very tight.
In today’s election, 17 political parties, including the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party, are fielding candidates with stakeholders expressing fear that there may be violence, considering the history of election crises and violence in the state.
However, there are only three main contestants and analysts have predicted the poll will largely be a three-horse race.
The state, with the capital at Akure, was created on February 3, 1976 from the former Western State of Nigeria.
In the first 23 years of the 44 years of its existence, the state had 12 military governors/administrators, as well as two democratically elected governors.
The first democratically elected governor was the late Michael Adekunle Ajasin, who was elected on the platform of the Unity Party of Nigeria during the Second Republic. He governed the state for four years between 1979 and 1983.
The second democratically elected governor was the late Bamidele Olumilua, who was elected on the platform of the Social Democratic Party during the Third Republic.
He governed the state from January 1992 to November 1993, but he was forced to leave office when the military regime of the late General Sani Abacha took power.
Abacha ruled the country from November 1993 until his death on June 8, 1998. After his death, General Abdulsalami Abubakar became the head of state. He was the country’s last military ruler as he called for elections and transferred power to civilian government under ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo on May 29, 1999.
Meanwhile, after Ajasin and Olumilua, Ondo State has had four democratically elected governors from 1999 when democracy returned to the country till date. Thus, the state has had six democratically elected governors since its creation 44 years ago.
Hence, whoever wins today’s poll will emerge the Sunshine State’s seventh democratically elected governor.
Between 1976 when the state was formed and 1999, it had 12 military governors/administrators, including the late Captain Ita David Ikpeme, who served between 1976 and 1978 during the military regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo (who later became President).
Other governors who served during the military regime were retired Brigadier General Sunday Tuoyo (1978-1979), the late Commodore Michael Bamidele Otiko (1984-1985), the late Vice Admiral Mike Akhigbe (1985-1986), and retired Major General Ekundayo Opaleye (1986-1987).
Between 1987 and 1988, the state was headed by Brigadier General Raji Rasaki (retd), followed by Chief Bode George (1988-1990), and then retired Rear Admiral Sunday Olukoya (1990-1992).
The state experienced a brief democratic run by Olumilua from 1992 to 1993, but after Abacha took over power, the state was headed by the late retired Colonel Mike Torey (1993-1994), and then retired Colonel Ahmed Usman (1994-1996).
Thereafter, the late retired Navy Captain Anthony Onyearugbulem served as a military administrator between 1996 and 1998. The last military administrator to rule Ondo State was Colonel Moses Fasanya, who served between August 1998 and May 1999.
Those elected in the past 21 years of democratic rule were the late Chief Adebayo Adefarati (Alliance for Democracy), the late Olusegun Agagu (Peoples Democratic Party), Olusegun Mimiko (Labour Party), and the incumbent Governor Rotimi Akeredolu (All Progressives Congress).
AD’s Adefarati governed the state between 1999 and 2003; PDP’s Agagu, 2003-2009; LP’s Mimiko, 2009-2017; and APC’s Akeredolu, 2017 till date.
Today’s poll will see the seventh governor being elected in the past 44 years of the state’s existence.
Although 17 parties fielded candidates for today’s election, there are only three main contestants, and analysts have predicted the poll will largely be a three-horse race.
The three parties are the ruling APC, PDP, and the Zenith Labour Party, with Akeredolu, Mr Eyitayo Jegede, and Deputy Governor Agboola Ajayi as the respective candidates.
Some political parties that initially showed interest in the election have also collapsed their structures to support the main candidates, particularly those of the PDP and the APC.
For instance, the chairmen of 11 parties, earlier in the week announced the decision of their parties to support the PDP candidate.
Despite that, Akeredolu, Jegede, and Ajayi are heavyweights in the governorship election as their structures spread across the 18 local government areas of the state. This is coupled with the fact that they were considered to have had the financial strength to run their campaigns when compared to other candidates.
Due to their popularity across the state, it is almost impossible to predict who will win among the three politicians.
Interestingly, the three candidates are from each of the three senatorial districts of the state. Akeredolu is from Ondo North, Jegede from Ondo Central, and Ajayi from Ondo South.
It was gathered that until the last minute of the campaign, the candidates were still gaining support in their respective strongholds, where they are expected to get large votes and miscellaneously get the constitutionally required number of votes from the other areas where they are less popular.
In spite of the closeness in the ratings of the trio, political observers have still managed to rate the chances of the three candidates across the 18 local government areas, though it is still difficult to ascertain who the winners will be in the areas.
During the campaign, it was observed that the three candidates were welcomed by their mammoth supporters. Their campaign venues were always full, which signified the popularity and acceptability of the candidates in the local government areas.
Political analysts predicted Akeredolu to win and have massive votes in Owo Local Government Area, where he’s from, as well as in Odigbo Local Government Area.
Though Odigbo Local Government Area is in the southern senatorial district, its inhabitants are mainly non-indigenes of the state. Besides being the third highly populated local government area in terms of voter registration, with over 120,000 registered voters, the local government area comprises mostly people from Osun and Kwara states, which are APC-controlled states.
According to observers, Jegede may win Akure South Local Government Area, where he is from and which is the largest local government area in the state in terms of voter registration. It has over 248,000 registered voters who comprise both indigenes and non-indigenes of the local government area.
In addition to that, with the perceived popularity of the PDP candidate among the people of Akure, coupled with the determination of his kinsmen to support him in this election, victory is also predicted for Jegede in the Akure North Local Government Area.
The Deputy Governor, Ajayi, is from the Ese Odo Local Government Area in the southern senatorial district. Being his local government area, his people would prefer to vote for their ‘son’ rather than an outsider.
He is also expected to win in Ondo West and Ondo East local government areas, owing to his backing by a former governor of the state, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, who is also the National Leader of the ZLP, in the election.
Mimiko always won the two local government areas since 1999, regardless of his political party. Observers said Ajayi would also win the two local government areas in today’s election.
In general, a total of seven local government areas are expected to be won by the three candidates, leaving the 11 other local government areas as battlegrounds.
According to analysts, the battleground local government areas are Akoko North-East, Akoko North-West, Akoko South-East, Akoko South-West, Ose, Ifedore, Idanre, Ile-Oluji/Oke-Igbo, Okitipupa, Irele, and Ilaje.
However, some political analysts have noted that Akeredolu may have an edge over the two other contestants, being a sitting governor.
To curb election violence, the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Mohammed Adamu, said the police had deployed over 33,000 officers and men.
Other security agencies have also prior to the election deployed their operatives, with the promise that the exercise would be violence-free.
This is as the Independent National Electoral Commission promised to ensure the election is conducted in a free, fair, and credible atmosphere.
The INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu, said adequate preparation had been made to make sure every vote counted in the election.
The candidates in the election have also signed a peace accord and made a commitment that the poll would not be violent.
Speaking with one of our correspondents, a public affairs commentator and university lecturer, Dr Ralph Abimbola, noted that since the election had become a three-horse race, and the candidates are from each of the senatorial districts, the candidates must have impressive results from their respective senatorial districts to win the poll.
“The three candidates are expected to have enough votes from their senatorial district and strongholds, and at the end of the day, whoever has the majority of the votes cast will win the election,” he said.
“But the most important thing is for the election to be free and fair, and the people’s votes should count,” Abimbola added.
APC Chieftain Asks Court To Disqualify Akeredolu Over Unlawful Nomination
An APC chieftain, Mr Kalu Agu, has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to disqualify the party and its governorship candidate, Akeredolu, from participating in the Ondo State governorship election.
The plaintiff, in the suit filed on October 9, 2020, and marked, FHC/ABJ/CS/736/2020, also urged the court to stop the party’s senatorial candidates for Lagos East, Mr Abiru Tokunbo, and Imo North, Mr Frank Ibezim, from participating in the bye-elections to hold in the states.
Agu, a youth leader of the party in Abuja, who had a pending suit challenging the dissolution of the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee of the party on June 25, 2020, asked the court in his fresh suit to stop the party from fielding candidates for any election until the old suit challenging the disbandment of the NWC was determined.
The defendants sued by the plaintiffs include INEC, the APC, Chairman of the APC Caretaker Committee and Governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni.
Others defendants are members of the caretaker committee which include Isiaka Oyebola, Ken Nnamani, Stella Okorete, Niger State Governor Sani Bello, Dr James Lalu, Senator Abubakar Yusuf, Akinyemi Olaide, David Leon, Prof Tahir Mamman, Ismail Ahmed, and Senator Akpan Udoedehe as the 1st to 14th respondents respectively.
The plaintiff, through his lawyer, Mr Ukpai Ukairo, claimed that the nomination of candidates for an election by law ought to be by no other person than the chairman and secretary of the party and not by a caretaker committee, which is currently running the APC.
He stated in an affidavit filed in support of the suit that “there is no lawful provision for a caretaker committee to run the affairs of a political party at all, including the 2nd defendant”.
He also averred that INEC did not receive any notice of primary election for the selection of APC’s candidates in the governorship election in Ondo as well as the senatorial bye-elections in Lagos and Imo states duly “signed by the National Chairman and Secretary of the 2nd defendant/respondent.”
He added that as of the time the caretaker committee was inaugurated by the National Executive Committee of the APC, the NWC had barely spent two years out of the four years it was elected to be in office.
In a separate motion, the plaintiff sought an interlocutory injunction pending the determination of the substantive suit restraining INEC from acting on any document submitted by the APC in relation to any election it was conducting as long as such documents were signed by the caretaker committee.
He further prayed the court for another order restraining INEC from placing the APC in the ballot for any election it is conducting, “or where already placed from ascribing any vote to the APC in so far as the names and particulars of any such candidate were submitted to INEC by or under the hands and signatures of the 3rd to 14th respondents.”
He also prayed the court to restrain INEC from ascribing any vote to Akeredolu, Tokunbo, and Ibezim in the governorship and senatorial elections respectively.
Police: Every Part Of Ondo State A Flashpoint
The Ondo State Police Command has said that its 33,000 personnel deployed across the state are treating every part as a flashpoint ahead of today’s governorship election.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Tee-Leo Ikoro, told Saturday PUNCH on Friday that there were also aircraft to be deployed to monitor the security situation from the space.
He said the Commissioner of Police, Bolaji Salami, mandated the police to treat every part of the state as a flashpoint in the election.
This is as the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has ordered the restriction of vehicular movements from 11:59pm on Friday to 6pm on Saturday in the state.
Adamu, in a statement on Friday by the Force spokesman, DCP Frank Mba, noted that the directive was also aimed at preventing political actors and troublemakers from freely engaging in unpatriotic acts such as circulation and use of illicit arms and hard drugs, movement of political thugs from contiguous states to Ondo State and the disruption of the electoral processes, which are inimical to the dictates of the electoral laws.
The statement was titled, ‘Oct 10 Ondo governorship election: IGP orders restriction of vehicular movement.’
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps on Friday also said 60 sniffer dogs and 7,079 officers and men drawn from the South-West states, as well as Kogi, Edo, and Kwara commands would be deployed for today’s poll.
The Deputy Commandant General in charge of Operations, Hilary Madu, while briefing newsmen on the preparedness of the corps for the exercise at the Ondo NSCDC Command headquarters, also said four Assistant Commandant Generals would also be on duty during the poll.
Meanwhile, INEC has warned political parties and their supporters planning to share money during the election that the police would be waiting to arrest such criminals.
The state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr Rufus Akeju, added that INEC officials in riverine communities would be the first to be dispatched to prevent any incident of late arrival during today’s election.
In the meantime, the hospitality business has been thriving in Ondo State since the beginning of the week, following the influx of politicians and party supporters to the state ahead of today’s election.
It was gathered that some state governors are already in the state to give support to the candidates of their parties and they have been occupying many hotels in Akure, Owo, and Ondo towns.
Also, residents of Akure, Ondo State capital, on Friday stormed various markets in the metropolis to buy foodstuffs and other basic needs in preparation for today’s poll.
At Arakale, Oja Oba, and Isikan markets, all located within Akure metropolis, there was an unusually large number of people buying items.
A trader at the Arakale Market dealing in foodstuffs, simply identified as Morenike, in an interview with a reporter, said many people had patronised her unlike before.
Similarly, at the Oja Oba Market, another foodstuffs seller, Iyabo Olusola, and a meat seller, Busari Akeem, also said more buyers had thronged the market apparently to stock up ahead of the poll.
Meanwhile, a group, the National Consultative Fronts led by a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Na’Abba, and former presidential candidate, Prof Pat Utomi, have mandated all accredited observers to eschew violence and other forms of electoral malpractices.
Also, the Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has urged the Ekiti people in Ondo State to cast their votes peacefully in today’s election.
The governor, represented by his Chief of Staff, Biodun Omoleye, spoke in Akure, the Ondo State capital, on Thursday evening at a parley with Ekiti State indigenes resident in Ondo State.
The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has reacted to the ongoing protests against brutality and extortion by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad.
He re-directed the Inspector-General of Police, Adamu Mohammed, to reform the FSARS during a meeting on Friday.
The president also appealed for calm in a series of tweets after the meeting.
He tweeted, “I met again with the IGP tonight. Our determination to reform the police should never be in doubt. I am being briefed regularly on the reform efforts ongoing to end police brutality and unethical conduct, and ensure that the Police are fully accountable to the people.
“The IG already has my firm instructions to conclusively address the concerns of Nigerians regarding these excesses, & ensure erring personnel are brought to justice. I appeal for patience and calm, even as Nigerians freely exercise their right to peacefully make their views known.
“The vast majority of men and women of the Nigeria Police Force are patriotic and committed to protecting the lives and livelihoods of Nigerians, and we will continue to support them to do their job.”
The President’s response is coming a few days after hundreds of Nigerians took to the streets in a wave of protests against Police violence that have left people dead.
It was reported that one police officer were killed on Thursday while another sustained life-threatening injuries during a protest in the Ughelli, Delta State.
On Friday, protestors gathered peacefully in Lagos; but in Abuja and Osun State there was violence.
The movement initially targeted FSARS, widely accused of unlawful arrests, torture, and murder, but has since broadened to include all police forces.
The FSARS unit was earlier suspended on Sunday from routine patrols.
Several Nigerian celebrities have expressed support for the movement with the youths insisting President Buhari’s directive to the IGP holds no weight as year after year, the same reform have been promised with nothing but worse-off SARS personnel to show for earlier promises of reform.
The peaceful protest against police brutality that has taken over Nigeria in the las couple of days has turned violent as police shoot at youths in Abuja today.
The protesters made up predominantly of youths were shot at and had tear gas fired into their midst by men of the Nigeria Police Force.
The Lagos State Government has concluded plans to use a few protest leaders to disrupt #EndSARS demonstration.
The protest leaders numbering 13 where led into the premises of the Lagos State House of Assembly in Alausa on Friday morning while others stayed outside to demonstrate.
Shortly after, the protest leaders emerged with the deputy governor of Lagos, Obafemi Hamzat, to address the crowd.
The crowd, however, booed Hamzat, who was suggesting police reform.
The protest leaders then moved aside to conclude plans to disperse the crowd.
One of the protest leaders SaharaReporters heard speaking, said, “They have given us result, in three stages. They said they will implement it, so let’s move the crowd away from here and give them that time. They have given us a resolution.”
Most protesters are, however, not privy to the conversation inside the House of Assembly with the protest leaders.
A man who killed nine women in a case that caused outrage in Nigeria has been sentenced to death in the southern city of Port Harcourt.
Prosecutors say 40-year-old Gracious David-West strangled his victims in hotel rooms across Nigeria between July and September 2019.
Justice Adolphus Enebeli said he is to die by hanging.
The death penalty is not commonly carried out in Nigeria – the last three executions were in 2016.
One of his victims survived the attack, but was not a witness during the trial. Authorities say her whereabouts are unknown despite being told not to leave the state.
The judge found him guilty of attempted murder on that charge.
Police say he also confessed to the murders of six other women elsewhere but he was not charged for those murders for lack of evidence.
Authorities say the pattern of the murders point to a serial killing – he had sex with his victims before binding their arms and feet with strips of white sheets.
He also used sheets to strangle them, the court heard.
Several of his victims were sex workers.
How was he caught?
At the beginning of the case and unrepresented by a counsel, David-West had pleaded guilty to the murders but the judge demanded a trial because of the “gravity of the crime”.
At the time, authorities had suspected that he was working with accomplices but could not find any evidence as the case went to trial.
At the height of the killings in September last year, outraged citizens of Port Harcourt took to the streets, calling on authorities to solve the murders.
He was arrested on 19 September while trying to leave Port Harcourt as investigators closed in on him.
CCTV had captured him leaving a hotel and the circulated photo went viral on social media.
Security agents found him in a commercial bus travelling to Uyo in Akwa Ibom state, 45 minutes away from Port Harcourt.
What do we know about the killer?
David-West was born in the fishing town of Buguma in Rivers state, an oil-producing coastal community known for its beaches.
The town has a history with oil militants who operated out of its numerous mangrove swamps at the height of the oil militancy in Nigeria’s Niger Delta in the early 2000s.
Police say David-West worked alone and had no accomplices
Police say David-West was a member of the Greenlanders – also known as Dey Gbam, a mafia-styled street gang that sprung out of the armed militant groups.
Those who know him told the BBC that he was an only child born into a polygamous home, but he and his mother lived separately from the rest of the family.
Reporters who saw him in court describe a man whose behaviour was erratic.
“He was quick-tempered, always interjected the judge, and tried to defend himself despite having a lawyer,” said journalist Alwell Ene.
He used low-cost hotels, with poor security and without CCTV cameras, in the city centre and on the fringes of Port Harcourt, according to the police.
On one occasion he murdered a sex worker in a brothel in the Rumuola area of Port Harcourt, a known red-light zone in the city.
Who are the victims?
Very little is known about the victims, except for the names of the nine:
Maureen Ewuru
Jennifer Nwokocha
Linda Waripa
Dorcas Francis
Blessing Effiong
Rose Samuel
Kelechi Bridget Onuoha
Patience Hamo
Antonia Ibe
The BBC’s Karina Igonikon in Port Harcourt says friends and family members of the deceased never appeared in court, except for the dad of one of the victims who only came on the opening day of the trial.
“It was as if they had no-one, no address, nothing to trace them with,” she said.
Police say he also confessed to killing six other women in Abia, Imo, Edo, Lagos and Edo states but he was not charged for those murders.
“No-one came forward for those murders and there was little evidence to pin them on him,” state prosecutor Chidi Ekeh told the BBC.
There are disputes about the identity of the women, and how they were able to follow the killer to the hotel.
Investigators say he lured his victims by claiming to be a military officer and promising huge amounts of money for their time.
A hotel manager who dumped one of the corpses among the refuse in front of this residential apartment was also charged
One of the victims, Jennifer Nwokocha, was said to have arrived Port Harcourt from Lagos to celebrate her birthday.
“They met at the hotel where she was staying and had drinks, exchanged numbers and met up later in the night where she met her death,” an investigator told the BBC.
Celebrities like Saheed Osupa, Dele Odule and Sefiu Alao have joined King Wasiu Ayinde Marshall (KWAM 1) to appease a popular broadcaster, Wole Sorunke (MC Murphy) who was allegedly assaulted by Ayinde last week.
It was reported earlier that the Ogun broadcaster had accused Wasiu Ayinde and his ‘boys’ of beating him up at the 60th birthday party of the Olu of Itori, Oba Fatai Akamo.
It was said that Ayinde and Sorunke met at the event as musician and compère respectively.
Sorunke alleged that the Fuji musician pounced on him with the aids of some of his boys, whom he identified as KC and Gaji, where he sat.
This, he explained, was after Ayinde had ignored him and a client he took to his stage.
The incident generated mixed-reactions from people as the Freelance and Independent Broadcasters Association of Nigeria (FIBAN) ordered its members to stop playing Ayinde songs on their radio and television programmes.
But on Thursday, the issue was said to have been resolved at a meeting held at the palace of Olu Itori in Ewekoro Local Government Area of Ogun State.
At the meeting, which DAILY POST learnt lasted for about three hours, Ayinde was said to have taken responsibility for his actions.
The National Chairman of FIBAN, Desmond Nwachukwu, said the ace Fuji musician, “humbled himself; stated his side of the story and took responsibility for the actions of his boys” at the meeting.
Nwachukwu quoted Wasiu as apologizing to MC Murphy and FIBAN, saying, “By his assurance that nothing of such will happen around him ever again, a cordial relationship between us seem to have been birthed.”
It was gathered that the meeting was facilitated by Mayor Akinpelu, Dele Odule, Hon Biodun Akinlade and some top government functionaries.
The #EndSARS protest in Ughelli Delta State on Thursday ended in tragedy, with the killing of a policeman by protesters and the injuring of another.
The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu in a statement Friday morning identified the murdered cop as Inspector Etaga Stanley.
His injured counterpart was named as Sergeant Patrick Okuone. The two victims of protesters were all attached to ‘A’ Division in Ughelli.
Also protesters destroyed a number of police vehicles and stole an AK 47, with 25 rounds of ammunition.
Adamu condemned the attacks as unprovoked, cruel and unwarranted.
He warned that the police “will no longer tolerate any attack” on their men or any member of the law enforcement community by any individual or group protesting under any guise.
Adamu acknowledged the rights of citizens to protest as legitimate means for airing their concerns and views.
“It must however be carried out with all sense of responsibility and within the confines of the law”, he said..
He condoled with the family and friends of the Corporal Etaga Stanley.
He also commended the officers of the Delta State Police Command for exercising restraint in the face of the unjustified provocation
He has also directed the Commissioner of Police, Delta State to carry out a discrete investigation into the attacks and bring the killer protesters to book.
