• Friday, March 29, 2024
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BusinessDay

Youth in Lagos suburb defy Sanwo-Olu’s curfew, mount road blocks

While the youth in the urban centres of Lagos including Lagos Island, Ikoyi, Lekki, Surulere, etc are afoot destroying private and public assets in revenge for the wanton killing of their colleagues at the Lekki Toll Plaza yesterday by suspected agents of the government, their counterparts in the suburb have remained on the streets and expressways.

Despite the 24-hour curfew, now extended to 72 hours, by the governor of the state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, these youth are still marching and blocking roads, chanting “Buhari must go now” all the way.

Read Also: #EndSARS: INEC meets RECs over October 31 legislative bye-elections

While monitoring events on Lagos-Bagadry Expressway, BusinessDay counted six roadblocks from the Agbara end of the expressway to Afromedia Junction where the starry-eyed youth was unyielding to any plea for passage.
“There is no movement in Lagos today,” one of them yelled at a motorist who was trying to explain why he was on the road as he was not at work. “We are angry, we are mourning and so, nobody should disturb us. Please, go back to your house. It is in your own interest,” the youth advised.

Many people, mostly businessmen and women who have their shops along the expressway were seen trekking long distances. Some of them who could not endure the long trekking exercise took motorcycle (okada) in-between roadblocks as even the cyclists were not allowed to pass through the roadblocks.

Yesterday’s incident at the Lekki Toll Plaza has enraged not just the youth alone but also other concerned Nigerians and their friends in other parts of the world. “I have not seen a thing like this before,” said a real estate investor, who did not want to be named.

According to the investor, “we know that Nigerians are generally wicked to each other whether they are in the police, civil service, airport, post office, hospital, school, church, name it. If one understands the psyche of the people one is dealing with, one should not dare such people when they threaten violence.”
He noted that the EndSARS protest was very much needed and had been very successful until about three days ago when hoodlums started to compromise it, leading to the gruesome event of October 10 at the Lekki Toll Plaza.

According to Governor Sanwo-Olu, “this is the toughest night of our lives as forces beyond our direct control have moved to make dark notes in our history, but we face it and come out stronger.”

The governor in his statewide broadcast, Wednesday morning, appealed to Lagosians to remain calm, but that appeal doesn’t seem to have touched the sensibilities of the youth who have been on revenge mission since morning, leaving destruction of immense proportion on their trail.