Police have hinted of a plan to attack offices of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) banks, media houses and other strategic places under guise of fuel and inadequate supply of redesigned naira notes by unscrupulous elements in Oyo state.
Recall that aggrieved residents at the early hours of Friday took over major roads, especially Gate/Iwo road axis in Ibadan North East local government area in protest against inadequate supply of naira notes by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Also, customers waited endlessly at the various points of the Automated Teller Machines of some of the banks in the metropolis.
Long queues were observed at some of the ATMs points despite the fact that there is a report that they were not dispensing the redesigned ones as directed by CBN.
Angered by this development, aggrieved residents barricaded the major roads, set up bonfires while a police post located at the heart of the city was reportedly torched.
Disturbed by the trend, the Police Public Relations Officer, Oyo Command, Adewale Osifeso was quoted in a statement calling on the residents to be calm and maintain peace.
Part of the statement reads;
“Worthy of note is that, available intelligence reveals that certain unscrupulous elements have perfected plans to hijack the process, escalating the situation into full scale chaos by shutting down and attacking places of interest which includes but not limited to INEC facilities, Banks, Media houses, Schools, Correctional Centers and other critical infrastructures inclusive of looting major malls and business centers within the State.
“Member of the public are hereby advised especially with reference to the youth segment to avoid being used by agents of violence who want to capitalize on the situation to criminally enrich themselves especially as we navigate towards the 2023 General Elections as the Command is fully prepared to mobilize fully to prevent these criminal elements from turning Oyo State into their Playground.
“Consequent on the above, Residents would witness high octane Patrols in concert with relevant sister security agency all in a bid to Heighten the level of confidence of residents and as well reassure them of the commitments of the Oyo State Police Command at providing comprehensive security for all residents in the State.”