As the #EndBadGovernance protest continued Friday in different parts of Nigeria, the military has warned looters taking advantage of the #EndBadGovernance nationwide protests to shun the destruction of lives and properties.
Addressing a News conference in Abuja on the second day of the rallies, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, described the extent of destruction experienced on the first day of the demonstrations as crazy and made it clear that the Armed Forces will take action and won’t allow the looting and destruction to fester.
He assured that sponsors of the looting will be identified and dealt with and urged the media not to give some people “who want a moment of fame” the opportunity.
“We are also going behind to ensure that we also identify those that are involved; there are individuals who are sponsoring them, pushing them to do this, we are going after them,” Gen Musa vowed.
The defence chief who noted that the Bola Tinubu administration has been in power for one year and has been doing its best to boost economic activities, pointed out that the economic crisis and high cost of living in Nigeria is a global phenomenon and charged Nigerians to give the government time to address the challenges.
He said, “So, we want to call on all Nigerians to understand the government. If you have grievances, which I know people have, a lot of challenges here and there, and it is not only in Nigeria alone; everywhere in the world is facing one economic or security crisis or the other. And so, it is important to understand that we are not alone”.
The much-touted #EndBadGovernance protests finally kicked off in almost all the states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
However, on the first and second day of the protests, policemen were seen dispersing the demonstrators, mostly youths, using tear gas, even as civil society organisations (CSOs) condemned the action of the police.
The protests turned ugly when some hoodlums took advantage of the demonstrations and looted public and private properties in places such as Kano, Borno, Yobe, Katsina, Nasarawa, Jigawa where state governments imposed curfews in volatile local government areas (LGAs) in their states.
Though some deaths of civilians were recorded, as claimed by Amnesty International, the Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun said a policeman was murdered, some cops injured, and police stations burnt.
