Another satanic alarm triggered panic
across Lagos yesterday with parents and guardians rushing to schools to
pick their children home.
A false alarm on the internet had
suggested that kidnappers stormed two private schools at Mushin, Lagos,
in the morning and forcibly abducted several students ostensibly for
rituals.
The rumour took only minutes to.....
spread. Parents and non-parents alike soon began passing the rumour around.
Friends and relations in neighbouring Oyo and Ogun states also called by phone to verify the rumour.
What followed was that many parents rushed to their children’s schools to pick them home.
No explanation was sufficient to convince them that there was no cause for alarm; that it was all rumour.
Many students in the neighbourhood were seen returning home.
They refused to respond verbally to questions by our correspondents.
They chose to respond using sign language,fearing that the reporters might be kidnappers.
The few who spoke said that the authorities of their schools discharged them on hearing the rumour.
The story was however debunked by the
executive director of one of the affected schools –Premier College –
Pastor Abraham Martins and Ms. Ngozi Braide, the Police Public Relations
Officer, Lagos Command.
They said it was all rumour engineered by mischievous people to cause panic.
Pastor Martins said the rumour began circulating on Thursday evening.
Speaking, Ms. Ngozi Braide allayed the fears of the residents and assured that security in Lagos State remains tight.
She appealed to the public to “make time
to verify every information as some mischievous people may concoct
stories to deceive unsuspecting public and cause panic in the society,”
she said.
She also warned against lynching of
suspected kidnappers saying: “ Members of the public should not take the
law into their hands by lynching or burning suspected kidnappers. The
police would not condone such .
“ Anybody caught doing that will face the wrath of the law.
“Members of the public should make good
use of these distress call numbers: Control One, Oduduwa GRA Ikeja,
08060357795, Control Two Alausa: 08065154338; control three (CCTV) 5HG
08063299264and Control Four Alausa 08039344870 whenever the need
arises.”
Culled - TheNation
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...Nigerian please #STOPFALSEALARM
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