Crowds looted a warehouse believed to be storing food supplies for distribution during Covid lockdowns
ABUJA, Oct 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Nigeria’s chief of police has ordered the immediate mobilisation of all police resources to put an end to days of street violence and looting.
Mohammed Adamu said criminals had hijacked anti-police brutality protests and taken over public spaces.
He said this was no longer acceptable. Police officers said they had been ordered to end the “violence, killings, looting and destruction of property”.
Protests calling for an end to police brutality began on Oct 7.
The demonstrations, dominated by young people, started with calls for a police unit, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (Sars), to be disbanded.
President Muhammadu Buhari dissolved the Sars unit – accused of harassment, extortion, torture and extra-judicial killings – days later, but the protests continued, demanding broader reforms in the way Nigeria is governed.
Lagos has in recent days seen widespread looting of shops, malls and warehouses, and property has been damaged, with the businesses of prominent politicians targeted. A number of buildings have been torched and prisons attacked.
There were reports of hundreds of people looting government warehouses in Bukuru, near the central city of Jos.
The warehouses were reportedly being used to store food supplies for distribution during lockdowns imposed to help control the spread of Covid-19.
The Nigerian police force tweeted that Adamu, the Inspector General of Police, had told them “enough is enough” and ordered officers to “use all legitimate means to halt a further slide into lawlessness”.
It added that Adamu “warns troublemakers not to test the collective will of the nation by coming out to cause any further breakdown of law and order”.
A group that has been key in organising the demonstrations in Lagos had urged people to stay at home.
The Feminist Coalition also advised people to follow any curfews in place in their states.
The group said it would no longer be taking donations for the #EndSARS protests. — NNN-AGENCIES