By Abiola Olawale
Popular comedian, Debo Adebayo, popularly known as Mr Macaroni and several other protesters have been apprehended by the men of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) at the Lekki Toll Plaza, in an apparent attempt to foil the #OccupyLekki protest planned for Saturday.
According to multiple accounts of the incident, phones and megaphones belonging to the protesters were also seized by the police.
Amid an already tensed atmosphere in Lagos over the planned #EndSARS Season 2 protest, the arrest of Macaroni and other protesters has further enraged Nigerians who took to the social media to lambast authorities over the police show of force against the protesters.
Why do govts, with all their power, still feel compelled to quash peaceful protests? Why this insatiable desire to control everyone and everything? Why are leaders so juvenile in their thinking? What if policemen were trained to protect peaceful citizens? #EndSARS #LekkiTollGate
— Remi Sonaiya (@oluremisonaiya) February 13, 2021
They confiscated cameras belonging to peaceful protesters. They seized Mr. Macaroni’s phone too. Packed all of them inside Black Maria. For what crime? Gathering peacefully in Nigeria. A country with law and order.
— Wale Adetona (@iSlimfit) February 13, 2021
Macaroni who joined the OccupyLekkiTollgate protest was picked up by the police early Saturday and whisked away in a black Maria van.
#Lekkitollgate: Mr Macaroni's in a black Maria after being arrested pic.twitter.com/jjqv51Q2c3
— Instablog9ja (@instablog9ja) February 13, 2021
Macaroni, who was live on Instagram at the Lekki Tollgate was heard saying “Lekki is under military rule”, after a police operative told the protesters to evacuate the tollgate. Following the order of an unknown police operative, Marconi’s live post was ended.
Additionally, ten other protesters were reportedly arrested. This was disclosed by one of the arrested protesters, who made a video.
He said that the police arrested 10 of them.
In his words, “We have been arrested. Over ten of us. We are kept in a black Maria stationed at the toll gate now.”
Recall that the #EndSARS promoters had planned to resume protest on Saturday over the decision of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry allowing the Lekki Concession Company (LCC) to reopen the Lekki Plaza.
Though the government had hinted at a possible crackdown, the threat didn’t stop protesters from showing up around the Lekki Plaza, leading to fisticuffs with scores of operatives who had besieged the venue since Friday evening
