The Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, has advised Nigerians against the planned nationwide protests over the hardship in the country.
Egbetokun spoke during an emergency Conference with Strategic Managers of the Force held on Tuesday, 23rd July, 2024 at Goodluck Jonathan Peace Keeping Hall, Force Headquarters, Abuja.
The IGP noted that Nigeria has had many costly violent protests with dire implications like the last #EndSARS protest which worsened the ugly incidents of crimes in parts of the country.
Egbetokun stressed that the police have a responsibility to ensure the protection of the lives and properties of the citizens.
He noted that while the citizens have the right to protest, the police force is saddled with the responsibility to ensure that such protests are not made to snowball into violence.
“Before concluding this address, it is important I address an issue of urgent national importance which appears to have gained some momentum – particularly on social media in the past few weeks. Some groups of people, self-appointed ‘crusaders and influencers’ have been strategizing and mobilizing potential protesters to unleash terror in the land under the guise of replicating the recent ‘Kenyan protest debacle’. Whilst the Force acknowledges the right to peaceful protest as enshrined in our constitution, we must ensure that these protests do not snowball into violence or disorder.
“As a nation, we have had more than our fair share of violent protests with rather dastardly consequences. The last #EndSars protest led to the wanton destruction of public assets, including police stations, courts, and transport infrastructure and the loss of several lives. Tales of sorrow, tears and blood followed what was supposedly intended to be a well-intentioned exercise. Rather than lead to any positive outcome, #Endsars merely aggravated crime rates and insecurity in several parts of the country.
“Indeed, we are yet to fully recover from the huge economic losses and deep-seated psychological and emotional trauma inflicted upon our people by those protests. Hence, our position is that the proposed violent protests are ill-advised and should be jettisoned forthwith. We have the responsibility to protect properties and everyone, irrespective of their race, colour, ethnicity, or tribe, who are lawfully embarking on their daily activities.
“We will, therefore, not sit back and fold our arms to watch violent extremists unleash violence on our peaceful communities, and/or destroy any of our national critical infrastructures and assets again. We have mapped out plans to ensure that no individual or group succeeds in fostering a reign of terror and or anarchy on other law-abiding and peace-loving Nigerians.
“Consequently, I want to seize this opportunity to sound a note of warning to hoodlums who might want to take laws into their own hands in the name of protests, to have a rethink as we will not fold our arms and allow our beloved country to be set on fire. We must protect the lives and property of citizens and this we will do most professionally.
“We will however continue to protect the rights of citizens to peaceful protests as we have done in previous protests. My honest advice is for Nigerian youths to avoid being used and lured to unwittingly do the biddings of those who are promoting selfish and inordinate ambition.“
