About N9bn was mobilised to cause mayhem during #EndBadGovernance protests – Police

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has claimed that about N9 billion was disbursed to cause chaos in the country during the #EndBadGovernance protests in August.

Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO) Muyiwa Adejobi, disclosed this on Wednesday during the civil space guard conference in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

The conference tagged ‘AI, Free Press & Civil Space: Tools, Challenges and Future of Investigative Reporting’, was organised by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ).

Adejobi said prior to the #EndBadGovernance protest, the police had warned that the demonstration would be hijacked by foreign mercenaries.

The force spokesperson said due to the trust deficit in the country, many Nigerians did not believe the warning.

Adejobi said the police “intercepted” conversation about how some persons were “planted” to cause violence during the August nationwide protests.

He narrated how the police received intelligence and traced Andrew Wynne, a Briton, to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) headquarters in Abuja.

“People were trying to protest and express their feelings to the government. Some people were trying to capitalise on that to get money. They actually got money — we are talking about N9 billion,” he said.

“I’m sure you are not aware that somebody got money. Because of that protest alone, people realised N9 billion and they actually disbursed the money to cause chaos in Nigeria.”

The force spokesperson added that the police is training 10,000 recruits on media literacy, civic engagement and behavioural change.