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The #RevolutionNow protest meant to hold across the country failed to take place in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital on Monday.
Security was beefed up in major areas of the city.
At the University of Ibadan main gate, where the protesters should have converged, there was heavy presence of security personnel. Fully armed police officers, masked and unmasked mobile policemen, men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps(NSCDC) were stationed on both sides of the road.
About 10 vehicles belonging to Police Skynet Squad, Operation Burst, Special Anti-Robbery Squad, NSCDC and Highway safers were packed on both sides of the road in front of the university.
At the state secretariat, there was an increase in the number of security personnel at the main entrance. Mobile policemen joined men of the Nigeria Legion who are originally the ones stationed at the gate. The mobile policemen were seen conducting stop and search on vehicles going into the secretariat.
Also, at the government house in Agodi, an Armoured Personnel Carrier(APC) was stationed at the entrance but there was no visible security presence.
At Mokola, people were conducting their business activities smoothly without the presence of security personnel except for traffic wardens who were controlling traffic.
The Nigeria Police Force, Oyo State Command had earlier warned people in the state to stay clear of the planned protest in Ibadan.
The command in a statement signed by the Police Public Relation Officer(PPRO), Olugbenga Fadeyi, which was made available to journalists in Ibadan on Monday, said the protest is against the law of the land and warned parents and guardians to warn their children and wards to stay clear of the planned protest.
According to the statement: “The commissioner of police in Oyo State, Shina Olukolu wishes to inform the entire citizens of this state to disregard the above captioned message and video trending on the social media being circulated by a faceless group called “Global Dilation for Security and Democracy in Nigeria and other.
“It is an illegal group attempting to incite the generality of the people to join a planned ‘Revolution’ March Against the Federal Government of Nigeria today Monday 5th August, 2019 mainly to force a regime change in the country. This is against the law of the land.”
Olukolu further adviced parents and guardians to warn their children and wards to stay clear of the protest which he said is “not only criminal but an act that is inimical and injurious to our cooperate interest and collective existence.”
“The Police in Oyo State will not fold its arms and allow any individual or group to create anarchy, chao and acts that can leads breakdown of law and order,” the statement added.