TENSION has been building up in Lagos State over the intention of some angry youths to stage #OccupyLekkiTollGate

TENSION has been building up in Lagos State over the intention of some angry youths to stage #OccupyLekkiTollGate protest in response to the imminent reopening of the toll plaza by the Lagos State Government.

Another group had announced its plan to stage a counter #Defend Lagos and #Dem No Born their Papa Well  protests at the same venue, thus setting the perfect stage for possible violence and breakdown of law and order.

The Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry into the Lekki Toll Gate shootings of October 20, 2020 headed by Justice Doris Okuwobi, had last week Saturday February 6, 2021, ordered reopening of the plaza which has been idle for two and half months.

Some members of the panel led by rights activist, Ebun Olu Adegboruwa, SAN, had opposed the reopening, as the purpose of setting up the panel had not been achieved.

The move for the protest gathered momentum in the social media on the perception that if the Toll Plaza is reopened without first getting justice for the #EndSARS protesters killed and injured there, the purpose of the panel will be lost and the tragedy swept under the proverbial carpet.

We call on both sides to shelve their protests in the interest of public peace and to avoid the obvious unpleasant consequences.

Prevention is better than cure. There is no way these protests can hold without violent clashes taking place. The sabre-rattling being deployed so far shows that forces that feed fat on crises are already at work.