One dead, 12 arrested in Ibadan palliative protest — Police
By Hassan Abdullahi Zaria
The Police Command in Oyo State, says one person died and 12 suspects arrested in a violent protest by workers of Ibadan Sumal Food Company over palliatives on Monday.
This is contained in a statement by the command’s public relations officer, Adewale Osifeso, on Tuesday in Ibadan.
Asifeso said the protest broke out in a factory belonging to Sumal Foods, located at Oluyole extension Ibadan around 4.00 p.m.on Monday.
He said the company workers staged the protest to challenge non distribution of Federal Government palliative allegedly given to private companies in the country.
Osifeso said that the protest was hijacked by criminal elements who forced their way into the factory destroying vehicles and property worth millions of Naira.
“One person died and 12 suspects were arrested in connection with the violent protest,’’ he said.
According to him, normalcy has returned to the area following deployment of the command’s operational and tactical squad to prevent escalation of the situation.
He said the Commissioner of Police in the state had ordered the transfer of the matter to the Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the protest was premised on false information created and peddled by some workers on disbursement of palliative to private owned companies,’’ he said.
