Lagos day of rage… Sanwo-Olu’s family home, NPA building, BRT buses razed, the Nation, TVC, police stations too, Akinolu’s staff of office ‘stolen’

The tragic dimension which the #EndSARS protests assumed few days ago went worse Wednesday as hoodlums burnt down government properties and those supposedly belonging to political leaders believed to have connections with the killing of peaceful protesters at the Lekki toll gate Tuesday night in Lagos state.

This came amidst counsel from former President Olusegun Obasanjo to President Muhammadu Buhari to caution the military, even as he warned that Nigeria was on the edge and needed mature leadership.    

In different parts of the city of Lagos, Nigeria commercial nerve center, business activities were brought to a halt following the curfew imposed Tuesday afternoon by the state government.

However, protesters defied the government’s directive and pushed on their demands for a reformed police force and by extension, good governance.

The peaceful protesters at the toll gate were sporadically fired by some men in military uniform, as revealed by the visuals making the rounds on the television and the social media.

Although some documents on the social media claimed the ‘military authority’ described the news as fake, official position was yet to emanate from the authority as at the time of this report.

Prior to that time, there were cases of violence and killings in some parts of the country, following the infiltration of the protesters by suspected hoodlums.

Different figures ranging from 20 to 50 were being bandied as the number of casualties in Abuja, Kano state, Lagos, Edo, Abia and Plateau states. 

The dastardly acts were upped Tuesday night when some suspected soldiers sprayed live bullets on the harmless protesters, killing several and injuring many others.

Follow-up rage

In a follow-up rage, some Lagos residents, mostly youth went violent vandalising public utilities and some private business concerns across the state.

The list of  properties so far destroyed or completely razed  include Zenith Bank, Admiralty Way, Lekki Toll Gate and Lekki Concession Company (LCC), GTB on Admiralty Way and Polaris Bank on the same Admiralty Way all in Lekki axis. 

 Also torched was the famous Oriental Hotel close to Lekki Toll gate where the heinous crime took place last night.  

In the same vein, 30 buses belonging to Lagos state Government BRT Company, and the BRT terminal at Oyingbo, Ebute-Metta area of Lagos, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s family house on the Lagos Island and Ajeromi Ifelodun local government secretariat were also burnt down. 

Further still, the angry mob also  destroyed cars within the premises of Ministry of the Environment at Alausa, the state secretariat, torched  the popular Television Continental (TVC),a  television station and The Nation Newspapers, both believed to have  link to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.                                           

Also, unspecified number of police stations  were razed  alongside the  Vehicle Inspections Office and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) offices in Ojudu Berger area of Ikeja, Spokesperson for FRSC, Bisi confirmed the incident in a number of tweets. 

Not done, the hoodlums also visited the Lagos headquarters of the Nigerian Ports Authority in Marina and set it ablaze 

Although officials of the Lagos state Fire Service later came for a rescue effort to put out the fire, but that was not after the damage had been done.

Also not spared in the arson was the new Oyingbo Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) terminus in Lagos, which was set on fire by the angry youth, destroying hundreds of new BRT buses.

A sizeable number of the new BRT buses were yet to be deployed to routes but parked in the terminus situated behind railway line in Oyingbo.

The terminus, recently opened at Oyingbo in Mainland local government area of the state, was burnt at about 8.30 a.m.

Thugs steal Akinolu’s staff of office

Also, the hoodlums Wednesday stormed the palace of the Oba of Lagos located at Iga Idugaran, Lagos Island, vandalised vehicles and carting away several artefacts.

In a video which went viral on the social media, the thugs are seen making away with the staff of office commonly referred to as ‘Opa Ase.’

A resident of Lagos Island told Blueprint on condition of anonymity that the thugs who invaded the palace were the same persons that put Governor Sanwo-Olu’s family house on fire.

“When the thugs went to attack Sanwo-Olu’s father’s home, some of them were shot by the police. This infuriated them and they were able to engage the police in a gun duel and overpower them. The policemen, who are attached to the Adeniji Adele Police Station, quickly made a retreat.

“The angry youths made their way to the palace of the Oba of Lagos. They claim the king is part of the government. The thugs have only been attacking government institutions,” he said.

Sanwo-Olu speaks

And in a state-wide broadcast Wednesday, Governor Sanwo-Olu described the Lekki killings as “the darkest gradients of our history.”

He said: “I address you today with a heavy heart, but not just as your elected Governor. I do so as a father and a brother. I do so as one who is touched by the infirmities and feelings of his people. I do so as a part of the collective humanity that we all share.

“Yesterday’s events were no doubt some of the darkest gradients of our history as a State and as a people. As you are perhaps aware, I have been engaging the #EndSARS protesters since Monday 12 and Tuesday 13 October 2020 respectively.

“I declared my affinity with their crusade against all forms of police brutalities. I took all of their #5for5 demands to President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR) and the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu in Abuja. They were all acceded to.

“Indeed, I could say we were making progress together though the pace was slow and indeed very slow due to lack of an acceptable leadership amongst the #EndSARS protesters. However, events took a different turn from Sunday 18, October 2020 as criminal elements took advantage of the firm orders handed down to the officers and men of the Nigerian Police not to resort to shooting as a rule of engagement.

In Ogolonto area of Ikorodu, armed gangs unleashed mayhem on one another. While this was happening, other criminal elements joined in attacking innocent citizens who were returning from church services. There were reported cases of violent robbery of scores of citizens and rape of frightened women scampering for safety.

They are mothers, wives and sisters of our fellow citizens. Other criminal elements in turn began to unleash terror on citizens in different parts of the state like Fagba junction in Ogba and Ebute Metta. In the Ebute Metta incident, 19 officers and men of our Rapid Response Squad (RRS) were severally injured by armed thugs in Adekunle, Ebute Metta. The level of insecurity in different parts of the State became heightened with the multiple attacks on Police Stations.”

“For clarity, it is imperative to explain that no sitting governor controls the rules of engagement of the army. I have nevertheless instructed an investigation into the ordered and the adopted rules of engagement employed by the officers and men of the Nigerian Army deployed to the Lekki Toll Gate yesterday.

“This is with a view to taking this up with the high command of the Nigerian Army and seeking the intervention of President Muhammadu Buhari in his capacity as the Commander-in-Chief to unravel the sequence of event that happened yesterday.

Fellow Lagosians, while we pray for swift recovery for the injured, we are comforted that no fatalities were recorded as widely circulated on the social media. The leadership of our Ministry of Health led by the Honourable Commissioner, Professor Akin Abayomi worked through the night with different hospitals in Lekki and environ to monitor and provide support for the injured protesters,”  the governor added.

I’m committed to peace – Buhari

In a response, President Buhari has called for calm across the country, saying the federal government was working towards resolving all issues around the protest.

 The president made the plea Wednesday in a statement by the Presidency in Abuja.

The statement was signed by the president’s special adviser on media and publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina.

He said: “At the last count, no fewer than 13 States have gone ahead to establish the Judicial Panels of Inquiry as resolved by the National Economic Council to address the question of redress and justice for victims of police brutality across the country.

“The states that have set up the panels so far are: Lagos, Kaduna, Delta, Ekiti, Ogun, Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Plateau, Edo, Nasarawa, Ondo and Akwa Ibom. President Muhammadu Buhari welcomes the promptness of these necessary subnational actions, and reaffirms his commitment to supporting the State Governments to ensure that justice is achieved for all victims of police brutality in Nigeria.

“Under the Chairmanship of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the National Economic Council (NEC) at its meeting on Thursday, October 15, 2020 resolved to establish State-level Judicial Panels of Inquiry, to investigate allegations of Police brutality and ensure that all erring personnel are brought to justice.

“Prior to that, the President in June 2019 signed a Bill establishing the Police Trust Fund, to mobilise additional funding for the welfare and equipping of the Nigeria Police Force. Accrual of funding into the Fund, as specified in its enabling Act, has commenced.

“President Buhari in 2018 approved an increase in police salaries and the police personnel budget has seen a rise from 288 billion Naira in the 2018 Budget to 417 billion Naira in the proposed 2021 budget; an increase of 45 per cent.

“Only on Tuesday, at the commissioning of the Nigerian Police Pension Fund Limited building, the president also reiterated continuous support for both serving and retired police personnel.

“The president has equally approved the rollout and funding of a new Community Policing Initiative, as part of a larger programme of police reform in Nigeria, aimed at rewriting the rules of engagement between the Force and citizens.

“President Buhari’s commitment to extensive Police reforms should never be in doubt. The President in September 2020 signed the new Nigeria Police Act, the first comprehensive revision of the Police Act in decades.

“As President Buhari declared, the immediate dissolution of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), is the first step in a set of reform policies that will deliver a Police system accountable to the Nigerian people. The President has also approved full implementation of the report of the 2018-2019 Presidential Panel on Police Reform.

“Indeed the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Police Service Commission (PSC) have now commenced the implementation of the Report.

“The Presidency appeals for understanding and calm across the nation, as the implementation of the reforms gathers pace at Federal and State levels.

“The Presidency wishes to reiterate the full commitment of the Buhari Administration to the implementation of lasting Police reforms in Nigeria.”

  Obasanjo cautions

Sounding some words of caution, former President Olusegun Obasanjo  appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to act before it’s too late.

 The statement was titled “Violence Against Protesters in Nigeria: An Appeal for Calm”, a copy of which was made available to journalists  through Obasanjo’s media aide, Mr Kehinde Akinyemi.

He said the nation was on the edge of cliff and how the current situation is handled will determine its future.

 The former president said:  “It is with a heavy heart and deep sense of concern about the ongoing violence, chaos and unrest in many parts of Nigeria that I make this appeal to the government and people of our dear country, Nigeria, to eschew violence and embrace peace and dialogue in finding solutions to the challenges we face as a country.

“I particularly appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari, in capacities as President of Nigeria, Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, and a parent of youth like the ones who have in the last week come out in peaceful protest against police brutality and for improvement in their lives and their living conditions, to restrain the military and other security agencies from using brute force as a way of ending the crisis.

“The shooting and murder of unarmed protesters, no matter the level of provocation has never been effective in suppressing public anger and frustration. Instead, such actions only reinforce the anger and frustration of the populace and close the window of dialogue and peaceful resolution.

“It is clear that Mr. President and his lieutenants did not exhaust the opportunities for dialogue with the protesters before resulting to use of force. It is worse that there is denial of in spite of overwhelming visual evidence. Great harm has been done but it can be stopped before it completely spirals out of control.”

“We are at a critical moment in this crisis and Mr. President must act before it is too late. This time demands leadership and mature leadership at such. Most of the demands of the protesting youth, which Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State swiftly took to the President, are not unreasonable and can be met without anyone’s political interest or ambition being threatened.

“It is imperative that leaders at all levels, starting from Mr. President, must demonstrate meekness, humanity and sincerity in meeting the legitimate demands of the protesters and ensuring that justice is served where it must be served. These are the most potent ways of ending this crisis now..

“The youth too must give peace a chance while making their legitimate demands. They must be mindful of miscreants who will infiltrate their ranks and give the protests a bad name only so that trigger – happy forces will kill them.

“The destruction and looting of public and private properties will hurt all of us and set us back. The targeting of individuals and groups for attacks and reprisal attacks will only further widen our divisions, escalate the crisis and threaten our fragile unity.

“This is yet another moment when our nation is on the edge of cliff. Our individual and collective actions now and in the next few days will determine where we will go as a nation. May God help us in taking the right steps in the right direction.”

UN, EU, Clinton, Biden

Similarly, the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. António Guterres, and his deputy, Mrs. Amina Mohammed, a former Nigerian minister, have both called on the Buhari administration to end the ongoing killings across the country over the call for police reform.

 A statement by spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, Stéphane Dujarric, said: “I’ve been asked about the ongoing protests in Nigeria and I can tell you that the Secretary-General is following the protests in Nigeria calling for the dissolution of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad and an end to human rights violations allegedly committed by security agencies.

“The Secretary-General stresses the importance of respect for peaceful protests and freedom of assembly and calls on the security forces to exercise maximum restraint in the policing of the demonstrations.

“The Secretary-General welcomes the decision by the Government of Nigeria to disband the Special Anti-Robbery Unit and undertake broader police reforms. He expresses the readiness of the United Nations to accompany Nigeria in those efforts.”

Also, the UN deputy scribe said: “The UN & I are following the protests in #Nigeria calling for an end to human rights violations. I join the #UNSG in stressing the importance of respect for peaceful protests & freedom of assembly & call on the security forces to exercise maximum restraint.”

Making a similar plea, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party in the United States of America, Mr Joe Biden, said the Nigerian president to halt further crackdown on #EndSARS protesters.

In a statement Wednesday, Biden said: “I urge President Buhari and the Nigerian military to cease the violent crackdown on protesters in Nigeria, which has already resulted in several deaths.

“My heart goes out to all those who have lost a loved one in the violence. The United States must stand with Nigerians who are peacefully demonstrating for police reform and seeking an end to corruption in their democracy.

“I encourage the government to engage in a good-faith dialogue with civil society to address these long-standing grievances and work together for a more just and inclusive Nigeria.”

And in a late Tuesday tweet, a former US secretary of state, Mrs Hillary Clinton, also asked President Buhari to stop the nationwide killing of protesters.

“I’m calling on @mbuhari and the @hqnigerianarmy to stop killing young #EndSARS protesters,” she tweeted.

In its reaction, the European Union (EU) Wednesday condemned the violence trailing the protest.

In a three-paragraph statement issued Wednesday  by the EU High Representative and Vice President, Foreign Policy Chief and Security, Mr Josep Borrell, the union said: “It is alarming to learn that several people have been killed and injured during the ongoing protests against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Nigeria.

“It is crucial that those responsible of abuses be brought to justice and held accountable.

“Following the Government’s will to deliver on reforms, we expect to see decisive implementation.”

Kuka

Also featuring on Channels Television Wednesday, Arch Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese Matthew Kuka, expressed worries over the seeming silence of President Buhari. 

“It’s totally incomprehensible that the president is yet to talk to the nation. And guess what, we are joking with over 65 percent of our population –the youth. No one is enjoying this, the youth are angry that nobody appears to be listening to them,” he said.

NMA warns

Meanwhile, theNigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) Wednesday warned that the already overstretched health system in the country could get worse if no action is taken to stem the tide of fracas trailing  the protests.

They said the facilities could be further overstretched following the challenges faced in the ongoing COVID-19 fight.

In a statement by the association, the doctors called on the federal government to address the legitimate demands of Nigerians to prevent more killings in the country.

“Our healthcare system is already overstretched to an elastic limit by COVID-19. We should not stretch it more with trauma and gunshot cases as it’s been witnessed yesterday in Lekki, Lagos Nigeria,” the association said.

Police killed in Ogun

In a related development, hoodlums hiding under the pretext of EndSARS protesters Wednesday burnt down a divisional police station in Atan, Ota area of the state, even as a police sergeant lost his life in the process.

According to an eyewitness, the crisis started when the DPO attached to the station was trying to dislodge some youths who barricaded the Atan Lusada/Agbara highway, thereby disturbing the free flow of traffic.

“It was in the process of dislodging the protesters that a boy who is a butcher  was shot and his friends went on rampage, burning down the new police station at Agbara way, in Atan-Ota.

“The DPO was hurriedly whisked away by some police officers, but a Sergeant called Sergeant Alonge from Ekpoma in Edo state was unlucky as he was caught in the melee that occurred.

“Apart from Sergeant Alonge that was killed, many people sustained varying degree of injury”.

When contacted, spokesman of  the state police command, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi said he was yet to be briefed on the incident, and promised to get back to Blueprint.

Monarchs to wade in – Ooni of Ife

Meanwhile, traditional rulers across the country have expressed their readiness to wade into the nationwide crisis for peace to return to the land.    

 Ooni of Ife and the Co-chairman National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria (NCTRN) Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi announced this Wednesday

in a statement made available to journalists by the palace’s Director, Media and Public Affairs, Comrade Moses Olafare.

The Ooni said:  “Tension has risen on both sides. It is time to calm down and allow traditional rulers, as fathers of the Nation to lead the way to peace and restoration of trust. We must find amicable solutions even though this Lekki Toll Gate attack, has regrettably eroded the trust needed to establish dialogue and ensure a civic process for resolving the crises. We must not be tired.” 

The monarch further said:  “The decision of the authorities to protect public facilities is necessary but should not include military engagement of the armless protesting youths as the deployment of armed military personnel in clearly civil protests ought not to be encouraged until all peaceful avenues have been fully exhausted. Such preemptive strikes can only worsen an already combustible situation.”

Ooni Ogunwusi who  described the Lekki  protesters “as very decent Nigerian youths with high sense of patriotism to their country,” called on the government to make the soldiers involved in the dastardly attack face the wrath of the law. 

“The hoodlums were always seen in tattered dresses armed with dangerous weapons, perpetrating all manners of criminality like jailbreak, forceful extortion from motorists; bag snatching, arson, vandalism, maiming and killings. They were only disguising to be protesters, while the real ideological protesters most of whom are well known human rights activists, corporate Nigerians, very successful private individuals, popular artistes and other celebrities are the ones at the Lekki Toll Gate and other selected spots across the country even at times joined by government officials including governors of respective states.” he said.

Ooni Ogunwusi added, “our political leadership must immediately investigate the circumstances that led to the avoidable confrontation and consequent loss of lives with a view to swiftly fishing out the unlawful attackers who must be made to face the law.” 

“The federal and state governments have in no doubt shown responsibility by accepting the demands of the EndSARS movement. The youths should create a platform to monitor its implementation. There is a clear difference between the criminal hoodlums who have begun to hijack the hitherto peaceful protests and the patriotic Nigerian youths who were daily converging at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos and selected locations in other states including Abuja FCT in line with global best practices of protest gathering.

“It is the hoodlums and vagrants perpetrating all manners of criminality discrediting the noble ideology of the peaceful Youths that should be demobilised and arrested.”

About Suleiman Idris, Lagos, Hakeem Adegbenro, Abeokuta, Abdullahi M. Gulloma, Taiye Odewale, Joshua Egbodo, Abuja

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