The Presidential Villa precinct was effectively placed under lockdown on Thursday as security agencies restricted access to only residents and persons with official business within the State House area amid concerns of a planned protest over the abduction of schoolchildren and teachers in Oyo State.
A combined team of military personnel, police officers and operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) mounted extensive security cordons around the nation’s seat of power, turning back motorists and pedestrians who could not establish legitimate reasons for entering the area.
The unusual security measures affected the two major access routes leading to the Presidential Villa; the road from the Federal Secretariat and Supreme Court axis and the route from the Asokoro end, where armed security personnel were deployed in large numbers from the early hours of Thursday.
Checks showed that access to the area was limited strictly to residents of the Presidential Villa community, government officials, workers and other persons with verifiable engagements within the State House and adjoining offices.
Security operatives at the various checkpoints subjected visitors to thorough scrutiny, demanding identification and explanations of their destinations before granting passage.
Many motorists without official business in the area were denied entry and directed to take alternative routes, resulting in disruptions to vehicular movement around parts of the Three Arms Zone and adjoining roads.
The heightened security followed threats by activist and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, to lead a protest march to the Presidential Villa if schoolchildren and teachers abducted in Oyo State were not rescued by Thursday.
Sowore had joined protesters in the Federal Capital Territory on Wednesday to demand the release of pupils and teachers kidnapped from schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State on May 15.
During the protest, he criticised the government’s handling of insecurity and vowed to sustain public demonstrations until the victims were rescued.
We are not begging anybody. We are just asking people who claim they are elected to protect to do their work,” he said.
Sowore further warned that the protests would continue, declaring: “This is just the beginning. We will not go anywhere.
He had earlier stated that protesters would march to the Presidential Villa on Thursday if the abducted children and teachers remained in captivity.
