The Police Command in Oyo State, on Friday, said it has arrested some suspected hoodlums for allegedly stockpiling and smuggling arms into the state to cause violence, under the guise of peaceful protest over naira notes and fuel scarcity.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Adebowale Williams, made this known during a security summit, organised by the command in Ibadan to douse the tension created by scarcity of fuel and new naira notes.
Williams said that the command had uncovered plans by some groups to launch vicious attacks in some parts of Ibadan metropolis, adding that some of them had confessed to smuggling arms into the state.
He said that the duty of the police was to maintain and enforce law and order and, where necessary, enforce peace and arrest perpetrators of crime and prosecute them.
Williams said that citizens had the right to peaceful protests and assembly, stressing, however, that some individuals used such opportunity to cross lines by being violent and causing anarchy in the process.
He appealed for the cooperation of all stakeholders, adding that the police and other security agencies would continue to carry out their mandates of maintain law and order.
“It is important to reiterate that attacks on policemen and other law enforcement agents shall not be tolerated.
“All stakeholders in Oyo State must say ‘no’ to the agents of disintegration in our midst and continue maintaining our renowned reputation of a state with a relatively peaceful ambience,” he said.
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