Police had stopped a group of youths from carrying out a peaceful protest within the streets of Owerri, urging them to make a request for official approval by the police to avoid stiff action against them by security agents in the state.
The police officers who were led by the Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations, Imo State Command…. stormed at the Imo International Conference Centre Owerri on Wednesday where they intending protesters converged for possible take off of the demonstration and told them to cancel the awareness pending approval by the police in respect to a formal letter addressed to the police to that effect.
According to the police, “the peaceful protest may attract the opposition in the state to recruit or hire hoodlums to hijack the protest to cause unrest in the state especially now that security situation in the state is very challenging and no unregistered protest by any group of youth or organization is allowed or needed otherwise you may face stiff resistance from security operatives”
Admitting the peaceful disposition of the intending protesters, the Assistant Commissioner of Police, added that one of the main reasons for the official letter stating their reasons for the protest or advocacy was to guide them appropriately or lawfully with vehicles to avoid infiltration by hoodlums, harassment and intimidation.
The youth who hailed the Assistant Commissioner of Police for exhibiting sense of maturity and civility, agreed to abide by the advice and instructions given to them by the security agents, hinting that they would always remain peaceful in any activity or advocacy they embark on for the collective interests of the society.
As a result, one of the placards the intending protesters carried had inscriptions as: “O’ Town Youths 4 Better Imo. Get Your PVC. 1,000 Youth Movement. End Bad Governance. End Police Brutality. Youth Lives Matter”.
The youth expressed bitterness over what they tagged as unchecked and alarming extortion, harassment, intimidation, brutality, killing, maiming, unlawful arrest and incarceration of innocent people particularly youths across Imo State, stressing that if there is good governance all these atrocities and anomalies bedeviling the state would not happen, regretting that issues that provoked the #EndSarsProtest previously are happening worse today.
