Controversy had trailed the deployment of
the soldiers. A number of civil society groups described the deployment
as an attempt by the Presidency to frustrate and deny Lagosians their
right to protest the removal of subsidy on fuel by President Goodluck
Jonathan.
The state Governor, Babatunde Fashola, in a
broadcast, urged the President to withdraw the soldiers, saying that
protests in the state did not warrant such action. His call, like many
others, was not heeded.
However, the Army Headquarters later
claimed that the soldiers were those deployed in the state’s sponsored
Operation Messa to help combat crime on the request of the state
government. The claim was described as a fat lie by the government.
The state government declined comment on
the withdrawal, saying that whatever comment that could be made had been
made in the governor’s broadcast.
The Assistant Director of Army Public
Relations, Lt. Col. Kayode Ogunsanya, said the soldiers were “withdrawn
on the order of Army Headquarters.”
Some residents of the state, who spoke with
one of our correspondents around the Gani Fawehinmi Park, said the
presence of the soldiers was a source of panic.