The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Olukayode Egbetokun confirmed to the public on Tuesday that the police, military, and other security agencies did not use live ammunition or excessive force during the recent #EndBadGovernance protests. Addressing a meeting of security agency heads in Abuja, Egbetokun emphasized that the security forces maintained restraint despite facing aggression from some protesters.
“The police and the 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,” Egbetokun said.
He further clarified that the forces did not utilize the full range of their non-lethal crowd control equipment. “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,” he added.
Egbetokun also highlighted the injuries sustained by security personnel during the protests, refuting claims of excessive force as “fake news and very wrong allegations.” He reassured that the police were not overstretched during the protests, revealing that several criminals, including armed robbers, were apprehended while the demonstrations were ongoing.
In response to rumors about protesters hijacking an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) in Kaduna, Egbetokun explained, “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.”
Egbetokun also addressed the deployment of police personnel to the Abuja stadium, clarifying their role in ensuring the safety of peaceful protesters. He stated, “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. We asked them to go to a particular location and that if they went there we would provide security.”
The IGP reiterated the commitment of the police to uphold the rights of citizens to protest peacefully. “We have said on several occasions that we recognize the rights of citizens to protest peacefully and that for as long as they remain peaceful, the police will be there with them. We didn’t take over the stadium,” he said.
