We didn’t fire live ammunition during protests – IGP

From Molly Kilete, Abuja

The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun  has denied reports making the rounds that the police, military and other security agencies engaged in the management of the #EndBadGovernance protest used live ammunition against the protesters.

The IGP, has also denied that the security agencies used excessive force on protesters.

On the contrary, the IGP, said that security agents deployed to maintain law and order were attacked by protesters who went violent.

Egbetokun, disclosed this at a meeting of security agencies heads held at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja.

Egbetokun said: “The police, 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. “

The IGP, while noting that the police were not overstretched during the protests, said several criminals were arrested and that other criminal activities were recorded during the protests except for kidnapping.

He 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. “

The police boss who spoke on the alleged hijack of an Armoured Personnel Carrier by the protesters in Kaduna state, 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.”

On why the police took over the Abuja stadium and prevented protesters from using the venue, the IGP, 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.(Continued on www.sunnewsonline)

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  as long as they remain peaceful, the police will be there with them. We didn’t take over the stadium.”