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Tag: Muhammed Adamu

  • #EndSARS Violence Won’t Discourage Officers from Performing Constitutional Duties – IGP

    #EndSARS Violence Won’t Discourage Officers from Performing Constitutional Duties – IGP

    Inspector General of Police (IGP), Muhammed Adamu, Tuesday visited Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, at the State House in Marina where he declared that the #EndSARSProtestsTurnedBloody won’t discourage the men and women of the Nigeria Police Force from performing their constitutional duties.

    Briefing journalists on his mission in Lagos, IGP said he was in the state for an assessment of the police assets vandalised after the protest and to commiserate with residents.

    Inspector General of Police (IGP) visits Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu as part of assessment tour of states affected by violence and destruction that followed the #EndSARS protest against police brutality by Nigerian youths.

    Adamu consoled the governor and people of Lagos over the coordinated arson, which left strategic assets of the state in ruins. He said the police had widened its intelligence to trace and arrest those that carried out the act.

    According to him, “Lagos was the epicentre where the #EndSARS protest took place and the number of destruction in the subsequent violence was more in Lagos than any other part. I came to commiserate with the governor and people of the state. The destruction they suffered was uncalled for.

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    Counting the Cost: Odumosu Inspects Burnt Police Formations in Lagos

    “The second leg of my visit is to see the police stations destroyed and boost the morale of our men in Lagos. We don’t want them to be demoralised by the event in which they suffered personal attacks. Policemen are trained to take such pain. Now that the event has happened, it shouldn’t discourage us from performing our constitutional duties.”

    The police chief said he observed that the morale of some officers had dampened in the light of the violence, he noted that his visit would encourage them to give their all in protecting the lives and properties of the citizens.

    Adamu said the scale of the destruction witnessed in Lagos and around the country called for the need by Nigerians to adopt standard protocols for public protests whenever they wanted to express their grievances against the system.

    “It is very important to set up protocols that will prevent hoodlums to hijack peaceful protest organised with good intentions. The moment the protest organisers don’t have leadership, the purpose and intent of the effort would be defeated. As we have seen in the case of #EndSARS protest, no economy will be able to bear the loss that we have seen in Lagos,” IGP said.

    Adamu visited some of the assets torched in Lagos, including the vandalised palace of Oba of Lagos,

    Lagos State was the epicentre of the #EndSARS protest, which later snowballed to coordinated violence that led to a large-scale destruction of assets belonging to the state, Federal Government, police and private individuals.

    Six police officers were lynched in Lagos, 36 critically injured, while 46 police stations were torched.

    Responding, Sanwo-Olu commiserated with Adamu over the mob attacks on police personnel and torching of their stations.

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    How President Buhari Intends to Move Forward with #EndSARS Demands

    Despite the violence visited on the police formations by hoodlums who hijacked the protest, the governor commended the officers in Lagos State Police Command for exercising restraint in the face of the attacks.

    Sanwo-Olu intimated IGP on the move by Lagos State Government to rebuild the razed police stations and offer scholarship awards to the children of the officers killed in the violence.

    The governor assured Adamu that all the requests sent to Lagos State Government by the police would be fulfilled, while pledging that the state would be championing a cause to improve citizen-police relationship in order to prevent re-occurrence of the issues that led to the #EndSARS protest.

    Those who accompanied IGP include: Deputy Inspector General (DIG) in charge of Research and Planning, Leye Oyebade; his counterpart in Force Intelligence, Ibrahim Lamorde; Assistant Inspector General (AIG) in charge of Force Operations, Hosea Karma; AIG Zone 2, Ahmed Ilyasu; and Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu; among others.

    IdowuSowunmi

  • Your Claims on Police Shooting at #EndSARS Protesters Untrue, IGP Tells Amnesty International

    Your Claims on Police Shooting at #EndSARS Protesters Untrue, IGP Tells Amnesty International

    Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, has dismissed report by Amnesty International, accusing the police personnel of shoting at peaceful protesters.

    While affirming that officers of the Nigeria Police Force acted professionally, Adamu said his men exercised commendable restraints and some paid the supreme price for peace during the recent protests and ensuing violence in some parts of the country.

    Reacting to the report by Amnesty International dated October 21 that police personnel shot at peaceful protesters, the police chief described the Amnesty International report as untrue, misleading and contrary to all available empirical evidences.

    He noted that during the protests, police officers “used legitimate means to ensure that the protests were carried out in a peaceful manner and in most cases, physically protected and walked side-by-side with the protesters.”

    He reiterated that even when the protests turned violent in some parts of the country, the officers still maintained utmost restraint and did not use excessive force in managing the situations.

    “Available Reports show that twenty-two (22) police personnel were extra-judicially killed by some rampaging protesters and scores injured during the protests. Many of the injured personnel are in life threatening conditions at the hospitals.

    “Two hundred and five (205) police stations and formations including other critical private and public infrastructure were also damaged by a section of the protesters.

    “Despite these unprovoked attacks, our police officers never resorted to use of unlawful force or shooting at the protesters as alleged in the report. It also beggars imagination that Amnesty International failed to mention or pay tribute to Police officers who were gruesomely murdered during the protests while serving their fatherland.

    “The Force decries the discriminatory tendencies exhibited by Amnesty International as seen in the report. One wonders if in the estimation of Amnesty International, police officers are not also human beings equally entitled to the protection of their fundamental rights to life and dignity of human person,” said Adamu, in a statement by Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba.

    The Inspector General of Police, while noting that NPF is committed to the Federal Government’s ongoing holistic reforms of the Force targeted at improving service delivery, positive police-citizen relationship and respect for human rights, enjoined Amnesty International to ensure they subject their reports to adequate scrutiny and proper verification of facts before making the reports public.

    Idowu Sowunmi