The Inspector-General (IG) of Police, Mr. Mohammed Adamu, apparently exasperated with the continuing looting and wanton destruction of public and private properties around the country yesterday, responded in a very authoritative tone to the growing lawlessness being a direct aftermath of the #ENDSARS protests. Adamu warned troublemakers not to test the collective will of the nation by coming out to cause any further breakdown of law and order.
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The IG ordered the immediate mobilisation of all police operational assets and resources to bring an end to the violence, killings, looting, and destruction of public and private property. Specifically, he ordered all Assistant Inspectors-General of Police (AIGs), Commissioners of Police (CPs), Heads of Police Operational Units, Squadron and Base Commanders in charge of Zonal/State/FCT Commands, the Police Mobile Force, Counter Terrorism Unit, and the Special Protection Unit, to immediately reclaim the public space from criminal elements masquerading as protesters in some parts of the country.
This is coming two days after President Muhammadu Buhari addressed the nation and sued for calm following the violent turn of the #ENDSARS protest in Lagos State, which has spread to other parts of the country in the form of looting and arson.
But in his assessment of the state of the nation, Katsina State Governor Aminu Masari, whose state has been battling unceasing insecurity for some time, described the current situation in many parts of Nigeria as the country’s most trying times.
To underscore the weight of the current crisis, which seemed like the opportunity for many people to give vent to their economic frustration, the protests moved from #ENDSARS to end corruption and bad governance, and, then, turned violent, as hoodlums hijacked the process. Many of the angry youths, yesterday, stormed the homes of some prominent Nigerians, especially, current and past public office holders, which they raided and, in several instances, razed to the ground in expression of their anger.
Some of those that suffered monumental losses in the various isolated attacks all serving and former federal lawmakers from Cross River State, included Senators Victor Ndoma-Egba, and Gershom Bassey. The Governor, Professor Ben Ayade had hurriedly travelled to Abuja with his wife and brother on the grounds that he was going to mobilise security forces to protect vital installations within the state. Senator Teslim Folarin (Oyo State) equally suffered huge losses when a large crowd of people broke into his Ibadan residence and looted it completely.