Kayode Egbetoku, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), has directed his men across the country to “deal decisively” with individuals who would want to foment trouble with the ongoing #EndBadGovernance protests against hunger and economic hardship across the federation.
In a statement he personally signed on Wednesday, the police boss said the organisers of the planned demonstrations failed to furnish the police with the details of the protests including the names of intending participants, routes of rallies, among others.
The IGP said “the name given to the movement — ‘Take It Back Movement’ has far-reaching undemocratic, unconstitutional and illegal connotations”.
He said intelligence revealed that the protests are aimed at unleashing mayhem on the polity and innocent citizens.
Egbetokun said the police won’t fold their arms and watch a degeneration of the situation into a “state of anomy”.
“All officers and men of the Nigeria Police are hereby directed to act and deal decisively with any act of arson, intimidation or harassment of any citizen, threat to lives and properties, breach of peace and any act of criminality that may arise or flow from the planned protest in any part of the country.
“Perpetrators of any crime will be arrested and promptly prosecuted,” he said.
The planned protests against economic hardship, which is gaining traction on social media, have been scheduled to be held across all states of the Federation as well as the nation’s capital Abuja in August.
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.
