By Moses Omorogieva
The Lagos State Park Management Agency (LSPMA) Mile-12 Branch, on Friday denied that its officials were involved in the early Friday protest over the lingering scarcity of the Naira currency notes.
Some hoodlums, who were protesting scarcity of Naira notes were responsible for the early morning crisis that happened at the area on Friday
The Chairman of Mile-12 Branch of the agency, Mr Adekunle Matiminu, who confirmed the protest to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, said some hoodlums carried out the protest before they were dispersed.
Matiminu noted that no member of staff of his agency was involved in the protest, saying that they rather assisted the police to disperse the protesting hoodlums.
“We staff members of the Lagos State Park Management Agency, Mile-12 don’t want any trouble in this area. We want peace.
“The people protesting are ‘Area Boys’. They are not our members. They are the ones burning tyres around. But we chased them out of this place.
“If they want money, they know where to go and get money, not to cause trouble here.
” We will not allow them. You can see now the place is peaceful. We have many police officers around too,” he said.
A NAN Correspondent, who monitored the situation at Ojota, Ketu and Mile-12 reports that the Area H Commander, ACP Mohammed Sanusi, was seen leading a team of police officers from different divisions under his command.
Similarly at Mile-12, more than 15 patrol vehicles from the police and OP MESA were seen stationed at both sides of the Mile-12 Bridge for quick intervention as both vehicular and human activities were going on smoothly.
The Police Public Relations Officers in Lagos State, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, said “although we don’t know those involved in the protest, but normalcy has returned to the area with the deployment of more operatives.
“Free movement of vehicles and people fully restored. Our officers and men are still on ground to prevent any breakdown of law and order. ‘ If you see something, say something’’.
“It is true our men are there. Reinforcement units have been deployed. I enjoin members of the public to stay safe as we closely monitor and manage the situation,” he said. (NAN)
