In a statement on Tuesday during a press briefing, Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun refuted allegations that security forces used excessive force during the #EndBadGovernance protests, News About Nigeria reports.
Egbetokun said that neither the police nor the military fired a single shot at 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 stated.
He clarified that no live ammunition was used in managing the protests, and the focus was on non-lethal methods such as water-cannons and tear-gas.
“We didn’t use excessive force at all. We didn’t even deploy the whole of our strength in this protest, even when it turned violent. 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,” the Police Chief said.
Egbetokun dismissed reports of excessive force as “fake news and wrong allegations,” stressing that security forces were not overstretched.
Addressing rumours that Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) was hijacked by protesters, Egbetokun clarified that the reports were not true.
“The APC seen at the Government House in Kaduna was not deployed for protest control. Protesters climbed on it while the driver was making a U-turn. It wasn’t a case of hijacking,” he explained.
He added that due to the large number of arrests, suspects from the recent protests in Kano are being tried at the police headquarters.
Egbetokun stated, “The trial of those suspects arrested during protests has begun. In Kano, because we have a large number of arrests, the magistrate moved to the police headquarters, and that is where the trial is ongoing right now. If you go to the police headquarters in Kano, you will find out that arrested persons are already being tried. So we are not keeping them indefinitely.”
