…Police Arrest 12 Suspects

IBADAN – The Oyo State Police Command has arrested twelve suspects in a Sumal Foods violent protest over alleged refusal to distribute alleged Federal government’s palliatives.

It was gathered that during the protest and an attempt to disperse them by a security operatives, a casualty was re­corded.

Speaking on the protest, the Commissioner of Police, Oyo State Command, in a statement by Police Public Relations Offi­cer, SP Osifeso Adewale stated, “Police wish to set the record straight concerning the disturb­ing violent protests that rocked one of the factories belonging to Sumal Foods, Oluyole extension Ibadan on Monday, 01/07/2024 around 1600hrs.

“Preliminary investigation reveals that the protest was pre­mised on a widespread false in­formation authored and peddled by some of the workers concern­ing the disbursement of Pallia­tive to all Private owned compa­nies and firms in the country.

“Their grouse however was that they were being denied the welfare package. Sadly, the pro­test was hijacked by Criminal elements who forced their way into the factory destroying vehi­cles and property worth millions of naira.

“One death was recorded during the violent protest. However, Normalcy has since returned to the affected area with the immediate deployment of Command’s operational and tactical assets to prevent any possible future reoccurrence.