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Palpable fear on Thursday, gripped residents, traders of Obada-Oko and Oke-Ata in Abeokuta following the rumoured invasion of some schools in the areas by gunmen .
Another version of the rumour had it that some armed Fulani herdsmen have stormed some schools in Oba-Oko and sent away some students .
The news filtered into the books and crannies of Abeokuta which forced some parents whose wards school in the affected area to storm the schools premises and took away them .
PLATFORM TIMES gathered that parents and teachers as well as residents in the area fled over the rumour invasion of the gunmen .
Some of the schools in the area such as Owiwi primary school , Ayedere ,Ikereku primary among others all in Obada-Oko were abruptly shut to avoid attack from the gunmen .
Reacting to the development , the Police Public Relations Officer in the state , SP, Abimbola Oyeyemi described the information as false .
Oyeyemi who issued a statement on Thursday, said the command had checked and discovered that the information is a false alarm .
He said the Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, having heard of the alarm quickly deployed some officers and men of the command to the area, but, could neither find anything nor anybody in connection to the alleged invasion .
Oyeyemi said “the attention of Ogun state police command has been drawn to a false alarm raised by some unknown persons in the early hour of today Thursday 23rd of June 2022, that some gunmen have invaded Obada oko, Oke ata and some parts of Abeokuta metropolis.
“The alarmist went further to ask schools in those areas to close and send their pupils to their different homes for safety.
“Having heard the false alarm, the commissioner of police, CP Lanre Bankole, quickly deployed some officers and men of the command to the area only to find out that nothing of such is happening anywhere around the mentioned places.”
The PPRO however appealed to members of the public to discontenance the false information, saying, nothing of such is happening anywhere in Ogun state.
He added “and our people should therefore go about their lawful businesses without the fear of any form of harassment or intimidation.
“In view of this, the command wishes to warn those behind such false alarm to desist from it, as the tactical teams of the command have been activated to go after them and bring them to book.
“Raising false alarm to cause panic in the mind of general public is criminal and such barbaric act will no longer be tolerated.”
