The Kwara state police command on Monday alerted residents of plans by some miscreants to disrupt the Eid-el-Kabir and Durbar celebrations in Ilorin, the state capital.
The command said it has deployed 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.
Other security agents represented at the meeting include Department of State Service (DSS), the Nigerian Army and the 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 formenting violence during these events.
“Feelers have it that the Sallah will be disrupted. We want to inform you that we are looking and we are watching. We 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 what whether they needed these knives to come and slaughter rams in Ilorin. I am sure every household has a knife to slaughter its animal. We don’t need fresh knives here. We don’t want to lose the life of anybody for the purpose of sallah and durbar celebrations.
“We are sounding this note of warning for 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,” the CP said.
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, the 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.”
Representatives of political parties present at the meeting are APC, Accord Party, UPP, Action Alliance and APGA while representatives other political parties shun the meeting.
