IGP Reveals Plans To Involve Military In #EndBadGovernance Protests

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, has revealed plans to involve the Armed Forces in maintaining order during the upcoming nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests, if necessary.

Naija News reports that Egbetokun made this disclosure during a Zoom meeting with prominent human rights lawyers, Femi Falana and Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, representatives of the Nigerian Bar Association, and various civil society organizations.

The police chief stated that the military would be called in to monitor public demonstrations if there are reasonable grounds to believe that the protests might escalate into violence, similar to the 2020 #EndSARS protests.

He emphasized that the military’s involvement would be contingent upon the situation getting out of hand.

Egbetokun also mentioned that the police have already arrested several individuals who have threatened violence or instigated others to commit violent acts.

He cited the example of an individual who was arrested for threatening to bomb public places and burn down police stations.

He said, “For those people who are threatening violence, most of them are faceless. Most of them remain faceless. And for those of them that we have been able to trace, we have picked some of them up; they are already in our detention.

“We arrested one yesterday who was threatening violence, who was instigating people to go and bomb public places and burn down police stations. We have such in our custody.

“With respect to the involvement of the military, the military is not going to come out to provide security during this protest. The military will only come out when the situation gets out of hand. What happened during the #EndSARS, the military did not just come out.

“We have forgotten that five police stations were burnt down in one day before the government of Lagos announced a curfew.”