The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, says a policeman was murdered while on duty during the #EndBadGovernance nationwide protests on Thursday.
At a briefing in Abuja, the police boss said some of his men were also injured by hoodlums who disguised as protesters.
Egbetokun said some police stations in the country were razed by rampaging rioters.
He lamented that events in major cities on Thursday were “mass uprising and looting, not protests”.
The leaders of the protests were not around to lead the rallies despite the initial warnings of the police, he claimed, adding that hoodlums took over the demonstrations.
“Police stations have been destroyed. There have been attempts to take over government houses,” Egbetokun said, adding that looting of public and private warehouses and facilities was widespread.
“In places like FCT, Kaduna, Kano and Gombe, among others, we recorded incidents of unprovoked attacks on our security personnel where one policeman has been reported murdered and others seriously injured.
“In light of the current situation, the Nigeria Police Force has placed all units on red alert. Our officers are fully mobilised and prepared to respond swiftly and decisively to public safety and order,” the IGP said.
Protests Turn Violent
The #EndBadGovernance protests turned violent in Kano, Borno, Yobe and Nasarawa states, among other 32 states of the Federation as well as the nation’s capital where rampaging hoodlums burned vehicles and looted warehouses and private stores.
Policemen were seen dispersing protesters using tear gas, even as civil society organisations condemned the action of the police. Curfews have been imposed in Kano, Borno, Yobe and Nasarawa states.
Propagated on social media, the nationwide protests against economic hardship started on Thursday, August 1, 2024, and is scheduled to stretch till August 10 across all states of the Federation as well as the nation’s capital Abuja.
Prices of food and basic commodities have gone through the roof in the last months, as Nigerians battle one of the country’s worst inflation rates and economic crises sparked by the government’s twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and unification of forex windows.
The police, military and the Department of State Services had warned against Kenya-styled protests. Politicians, who surmised that the planned rallies might end up like the EndSARS demonstrations of October 2020, have continued to appeal to youths to shelve the planned rallies but the young people have been unfazed.
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