IGP insists EndSARS violence won’t dampen law enforcement

The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Muhammed Adamu, has assured that the recent attack on personnel, including facilities belonging to the Nigeria Police Force, that led to loss of lives and destruction of property would not discourage the force from performing its constitutional duties.

He explained that though the attack which claimed six police officers and left no fewer than 36 critically injured with 46 police stations torched was regrettable, the ugly incident that marred protest against police brutality, would not dampen law enforcement by officers nationwide.

The police boss who blamed the coordinated attack and arson on failure to follow laid down protocols for protests by the protesters said that work is ongoing to ensure that the officers return to their duty post nationwide and continue with their task of protecting lives and properties.

Briefing newsmen during his visit to Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, yesterday, at the State House in Marina, Adamu said that he was in the state for an assessment of the police assets vandalized after the protest and to commiserate with residents.

Adamu who consoled the governor and people of Lagos over the coordinated arson, which left strategic assets of the state in ruins, hinted that the police had widened its intelligence to trace and arrest those that carried out the act.

“Lagos was the epicenter where the EndSARS protest took place and the number of destruction in the subsequent violence was more in Lagos than any other part. I came to commiserate with the Governor and people of the State. The destruction they suffered was uncalled for.

“The second leg of my visit is to see the police stations destroyed and boost the morale of our men in Lagos. We don’t want them to be demoralized by the event in which they suffered personal attacks. Policemen are trained to take such pain. Now that the event has happened, it shouldn’t discourage us from performing our constitutional duties,” he said.

The police boss who noted that he observed that the morale of some officers had dampened in the light of the violence, noted that his visit would encourage them to give their all in protecting the lives and properties of the citizens.

Adamu said the scale of the destruction witnessed in Lagos and around the country called for the need by Nigerians to adopt standard protocols for public protests whenever they wanted to express their grievances against the system.

“It is very important to set up protocols that will prevent hoodlums to hijack peaceful protest organized with good intentions. The moment the protest organizers don’t have leadership, the purpose and intent of the effort would be defeated. As we have seen in the case of EndSARS protest, no economy will be able to bear the loss that we have seen in Lagos,” the IGP said.

IGP insists EndSARS violence won’t dampen law enforcement

By Idowu Abdullahi,