Police, Military Didn’t Fire Live Ammunition During #EndBadGovernance Protests – IGP
The Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has stated that the police, military, and other security agencies exercised restraint in dealing with the #EndBadGovernance protesters.
Addressing a gathering of security agency heads in Abuja on Tuesday, the IGP highlighted the incidents of attacks on security operatives who were assigned to handle the protests.
According to the police boss, the military and police refrained from using live ammunition during the protests.
“There has been no use of excessive force by any security agency, including the police and the military, in managing this protest.” However, the protest was marred by attacks on security agents. Egbetokun stated that, based on their records, there were no incidents of police shootings.
“During the handling of these protests, no live ammunition was utilised by the police or military.” Unfortunately, our officers have been injured and are currently in critical condition.
“I will disregard that as misinformation and highly unfounded claims.” Our use of force was within the appropriate limits. We refrained from utilising our full force during this protest, even in the face of violence. We possess water cannons and rubber bullets that remained unused. Only non-lethal methods have been employed to control this demonstration.
The IGP also refuted claims that the police were not overwhelmed by the protests, stating that several other criminals were apprehended during the demonstrations.
He made it clear that, in addition to kidnapping, there were other criminal activities recorded during the protests.
“We didn’t exceed our capacity; we had additional units ready but chose not to deploy them to handle this protest.” Despite ongoing protests, a number of individuals found themselves being apprehended.
We apprehended individuals who committed armed robberies. We were missing everything except a kidnapping. However, we have taken appropriate action against any other criminal activities, as stated by Egbetokun.
The police chief in Kaduna emphasised that the protesters in the North-Western State did not seize any armoured personnel carriers (APCs).
“In Kaduna, we didn’t even utilise the APC for the protest.” The APC you observed was stationed at the Government House in Kaduna. Protesters approached the gate, and as the driver was departing, some of the protesters managed to climb onto the APC. The driver proceeded to make a U-turn, bringing the vehicle back to the front of the Government House gate. There was no instance of forcefully taking control of the APC.