By Dada Ahmed.
CP.Rotimi Adelesi, Kwara State Police Command.
The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Police Command, CP.Rotimi Adelesi, in her determined effort to maintain the existing peace and tranquility in Kwara State,north central Nigeria, invited all the Labour Unions in the State, supported by the Director of State Services and Commandant NSCDC to a peace meeting.
This is especially in respect to the planned protest to be embarked upon by the Labour, Trade, and Students Unions in the State.
Discussions at the meeting were premised on how the protest could be peaceful and rancor-free, if eventually it holds, because of the fragile nature of the state of security in the country in general and the state in particular.
CP Adelesi disclosed this in a statement signed by the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, SP. Okasanmi Ajayi in Ilorin and a copy made available to The Reporters on Tuesday .
“In their different contributions, the Director of State Services, Mr Patrick Ikenweiwe and Commandant, NSCDC GB Umar, spoke heartily on the need for the labor Unions to put off the protest and continue with the engagement they have begun with the federal government.
“The labor leaders and the student leaders in the meeting spoke about their readiness to cancel the protest,if only their national leaders direct them to so do.
“One thing that was, generally agreed upon, was that the peace and progress of the state are paramount in the minds of all,” she further revealed.
According to the PPRO, the CP and all others at the meeting agreed to await the final decision of the meeting between the Labour leaders and the government.
The CP said the command had placed security arrangements placed across the length and breadth of the State to checkmate and mitigate any backlash that could ensue as a result of the protest.
She advised parents and guardians to call their children and wards to order and advise them against being instruments in the hands of the bad ones.
The Police boss in the statr however, warned that anyone found acting contrary to the laws of the land, during the protest, would be arrested and charged in court.
The meeting had in attendance Comrade Muritala Saheed, State Chairman NLC; Comrade Joseph Tunde, TUC; Alhaji Ariwola, Chairman, NURTW; Alhaji Yinka Onikijipa, Chairman, TREAN; Alhaji Azeez Yakubu, Chairman, ORAN; Alhaji Babaelesin Abdulazeez, Sec. TOAN; and Yusuf Abdulgafar, of the University of Ilorin, who represented the student body.
Meanwhile, the organised labour has rejected some of the federal government proposed palliatives with promise to embark on the strike on August 2.
