The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, has disclosed plans to involve the Armed Forces if the upcoming nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests spiral out of control. This revelation came during a Zoom meeting on Tuesday afternoon with prominent human rights lawyers Femi Falana (SAN) and Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN), the Take-It-Back Movement, representatives of the Nigerian Bar Association, and various civil society organizations.
Egbetokun emphasized the potential deployment of soldiers to monitor public demonstrations if there are substantial concerns about a repeat of the violent incidents that occurred during the 2020 #EndSARS protests. He stated, “For those people who are threatening violence, most of them are faceless. And for those of them that we have been able to trace, we have picked some of them up; they are already in our detention.”
The IGP cited a recent arrest, explaining, “We arrested one yesterday who was threatening violence, who was instigating people to bomb public places and burn down police stations. We have such individuals in our custody.”
Egbetokun clarified the military’s potential involvement, noting, “The military is not going to come out to provide security during this protest. The military will only come out when the situation gets out of hand. During the #EndSARS protests, the military did not just come out; five police stations were burnt down in one day before the Lagos State government announced a curfew.”
The police chief’s comments came amid reports that organizers of the planned nationwide protest had rejected the police’s proposal for a confined protest. According to Egbetokun, the protest, slated for August, should be confined for security reasons and to prevent it from being hijacked by miscreants. “It is not advisable to go on street processions because as you are planning peaceful protests, some are planning violence,” he cautioned.
However, this proposal was met with strong opposition from concerned Nigerians attending the meeting, who viewed it as a violation of their constitutional right to assembly. Adegboruwa, representing the Take-It-Back Movement, declared, “The venues specified to the police will be used as meeting points, but Nigerians will not be confined there during the 10-day protests.”
This development highlights the tension between the authorities and citizens ahead of the planned protests, raising questions about the balance between maintaining public order and upholding democratic freedoms.
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