Police, military didn’t use excessive force on protesters – IGP
The Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun on Tuesday has denied allegations of excessive force used by security agents during the recent #EndBadGovernance protests.
He stated that the police and military only used teargas to disperse protesters and did not deploy live ammunition.
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.”
He added that the police and military did not use live ammunition during the protests, and that several criminals were arrested during the protests, including armed robbers. Egbetokun also stated that the police were not overstretched by the protests and had standby units that were not deployed.
Regarding the incident in Kaduna, Egbetokun said that no Armoured Personnel Carrier was hijacked by protesters. He explained that the APC was deployed to the Government House in Kaduna and that protesters climbed onto it, but the driver made a U-turn and returned to the front of the Government House gate.
On the takeover of the Abuja stadium by police, Egbetokun said that personnel were deployed there to ensure the protection of peaceful protesters. He emphasised that the police recognize the rights of citizens to protest peacefully and will continue to provide security for peaceful protests.
“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,” Egbetokun said.
Egbetokun also disclosed that the police were not overstretched by the protests, adding that during the protests, several other criminals were nabbed.
He added that other criminal activities were recorded during the protests except for 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,” he said.
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.”
