Policemen and soldiers stationed at the Gani Fawehinmi Park in Ojota, Lagos fired several shots to disperse recalcitrant Yoruba Nation agitators gathering for the banned mega rally.
The security operatives opened fire to scare away the gathering agitators after the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, addressed journalists at the venue, reiterating his earlier ban on the rally in Lagos.
But some Yoruba nation agitators dared the security operatives as they displayed large banners and began to distribute flyers to signal their arrival and commencement of the rally.
Some of flyers the agitators shared at the venue read, “Ilosiwaju Ominira Yoruba Nation.”
The security agents responded with sporadic gunshots and spraying of hot water from an armoured tank to disperse the gathering agitators.
Policemen succeeded in apprehending some of the agitators, who they dragged into an armoured tank.
Earlier, the agitators chanted war and freedom songs, saying, “No going back,” “We want Oodua Nation.”
The agitators stormed the rally venue at about 11.20am while the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, was addressing newsmen.
Some of the agitators later told journalists that the auspicious time had come for the Yoruba to have a separate nation because they had no affinity with the other ethnic groups making up Nigeria.