Men of the Edo State Police Command and the Directorate of State Security Services (DSS) on Monday stormed the premises of the Bendel Newspapers Company Limited (BNCL), publishers of the Nigerian Observer stable to prevent civil society members from embarking on the planned nationwide protest tagged “#RevolutionNow Protest.
The civil society members were assembling at the venue of the media house for the take off of the protest when the security agencies stormed the venue to stop them from carrying on with the planned protest.
The security agencies also besieged the entrance to the secretariat of the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
The security personnel positioned their vehicles at strategic entrance to the Nigerian Observer and its adjoining streets like the vegetable market road and the Observer lane.
The security officers stormed the Nigerian Observer premises with four Hilux patrol vans while that of the NUJ secretariat was about three.
But speaking on the action of the combined team of security agency, a member of the civil society who pleaded anonymity, said the police and DSS want then to put off the protest.
According to him, the security agencies demanded to know their reasons for planning to embark on the protest. “But we told them that we want to protest the arrest of Omoyele Sowore, the presidential candidate of African Action Congress (AAC) in the last February 23, 2019.”
IDRIS UMAR MOMOH & CHURCHILL OKORO, BENIN
