Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, stated on Tuesday that the police, military, and other agencies involved in managing the #EndBadGovernance protests denied using excessive force on protesters.
He pointed out that, instead, there were attacks on security personnel deployed to handle the protests.
Egbetokun made these remarks during a meeting of security agency heads in Abuja.
He also clarified that the military and police did not use live ammunition during the protests.
Egbetokun said, “The police and the military and indeed no other security agency involved in the management of this protest has deployed excessive use of force. Instead, what we had were attacks on security agents during the protest. From our record, there were no shooting incidents by the police.
“The police or military did not use any live ammunition in the management of these protests. Instead, we have had cases where our officers were injured and are in critical condition as we speak.
“I will dismiss that as fake news and very wrong allegations. We didn’t use excessive force at all. We didn’t even deploy the whole of our strength in this protest even when it turned violent. We have water cannons we did not deploy, we have rubber bullets, we didn’t use. All that we have used is teargas and nothing more. “
Egbetokun also revealed that the police were not overstretched by the protests. He noted that during this period, several criminals were apprehended.
Additionally, he mentioned that various other criminal activities were recorded during the protests, with the exception of kidnapping.
Egbetokun said, “We were not overstretched; we had standby units that we didn’t deploy in managing this protest. Even while the protests were going on, a number of them were arrested.
“Hoodlums who committed armed robbery were arrested. The only thing we didn’t have was kidnapping. But any other offence that was committed we paid due attention to those criminal activities. “
Egbetokun said no Armoured Personnel Carrier was hijacked by the protesters in Kaduna state.
He said, “The situation in Kaduna is that we didn’t even deploy APC for the protest. The APC you saw was deployed to the Government House in Kaduna. Protesters went to the gate and as the driver was driving out, those protesters climbed the APC. And what the driver did was to make a U-turn and go back to the front of the Government House gate. It wasn’t a case of hijacking APC.”
Addressing the police presence at the Abuja stadium, the Inspector-General explained that personnel were deployed to ensure the protection of peaceful protesters.
He said, “We didn’t take over the stadium, we provided security there. We assured those who approached us and told us about their intentions to stage peaceful protests. We asked them to go to a particular location and that if they went there we would provide security.
“We have said on several occasions that we recognise the rights of citizens to protest peacefully and that for as long as they remain peaceful, the police will be there with them. We didn’t take over the stadium.”
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