By Steve Oni, Ilorin
The Kwara state Police Command has alerted residents to plans by some miscreants to disrupt the Eid el Kabir and Durbar celebrations in Ilorin, the state capital.
The Command said it has deployed no fewer than 2,500 police personnel for the two events in the state.
The state Commissioner of Police, Aminu Saleh disclosed this at a meeting of all principal security agencies with political leaders in the state. Other security agents represented at the meeting include Department of State Service (DSS), the Nigerian Army and Civil Defence Corps.
The political leaders at the meeting were made to sign an undertaking committing them to bear the brunt of any of their members caught fomenting trouble during these events.
Said Saleh: “Feelers have it that the sallah will be disrupted. We want to inform you that we are looking and we are watching. We have already identified three modes of dressing that we will look out for.
“It was discovered that the plot is being coordinated by top politicians of the major political parties in the state. Checks also indicated that preparatory for the offensive, they have concluded to
hire mercenaries from within and outside the state to meet at designated points.
“We have intercepted a vehicle loaded with knives. I don’t know whether they needed these knives to come and slaughter rams in Ilorin. I am sure every household has a knife to slaughter his animal. We don’t need fresh knives here. We don’t want to lose life of anybody for the purpose of sallah and durbar celebrations.
“We are sounding this note of warning to those of them who are bent on disrupting the celebrations. They must take this warning very seriously as we are not going to compromise any disruption of both celebrations.
“We cannot allow the existing harmony in the state to get ruptured by the proposed strife by disgruntled politicians. The police cannot shy away from its constitutional duty to provide safety and security to all deserving citizens that conduct themselves within the limit of the law so also will the police deal decisively with anyone that tries to
disrupt the joyful moments.”
Mr. Saleh also cautioned against hate speech, adding that “words that are intended to insult, abuse, humiliate, offend, make unhappy a
person or group of people because of the person’s political variance,
religious belief and ethical differences should be avoided.”
Aligning with her counterpart, state Director of DSS, Mrs. Arthur Worrey said “we are sounding this warning because any one caught will face the music. We will not listen to begging. Let us all do what is
expected of us.”
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