By Olawale Lamina
The Inspector-General of Police, IGP, Kayode Egbetokun, announced on Tuesday that operatives have arrested some of the real sponsors of protesters who hoisted foreign flags and called for a change of government in the Nigeria in states such as Kano, Kaduna, and Zamfara and others.
Egbetokun made the declaration, just as the Comptroller-General of Nigerian Immigration Service, Kemi Nandap, revealed that sponsors of foreign flags by the rioters had been unravelled to live abroad.
IGP Egbetokun and other security chiefs spoke at the joint media briefing summoned by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa at Defence Headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday.
He emphasized that the Police had been exercising caution in dealing with the crisis on ground without deploying dangerous arms much as live bullets and water cannons, and only resorted the use of teargas whenever necessary.
“Since August 1, nobody has fired gunshots and we didn’t use force on innocent protesters. We only provided security for them. Even amid the protest, we have arrested several armed robbers, and criminal elements who stole and committed other offences,” said the IGP.
Throwing more light on the spare of riots that punctured the planned 10 days nationwide protests in the country, the Inspector General of Police states that the police arrested real sponsors of rioters carrying foreign flags and calling for change of government. He also revealed that those funding violence and subversion within and outside Nigeria had been tracked, with their accounts and sources of funding blocked.
This came at a time when the dust over #EndBadGovernanceinNigeria is yet to settle, even as the protests raged on in Kano, Kaduna and Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
Protesters in Port Harcourt particularly directed their actions at barricading major roads to traffic and marched to the private home of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Barrister Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, among other locations.
This came yesterday as the protest in Port Harcourt intensified, with the protesters marching to the private residence of Minister of Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, and blocking major roads, including the popular East-West road in the state.
Eyewitnesses close to the minister’s private home informed that the demonstrators were met with heavily armed security men guarding the premises and ready to defend the property by wielding guns.
But in Kano and Kaduna states, where there were pockets of disturbances, leading to imposition of curfew, government had gone ahead to relax its dusk-to-dawn curfew between 6 am and 6 pm.
Similarly, Kano State Commissioner of Police, CP Salman Garba, also disclosed at a briefing yesterday that his command apprehended no fewer than six Spanish nationals in connection with the protest that erupted in the state.
The CP stated that, “They have been transferred to Force Headquarters because it has to do with sedition and national security.”
Sponsors of protest on the watchlist
tThe Comptroller-General, Nigeria Immigration Service, Kemi Nandap, has revealed that Diaspora sponsors of protesters have been placed on the agency’s watchlist.
Though, the Immigration boss didn’t disclose any name of persons, she added that the watch-listed individuals will be arrested on their arrival in the country.
“We have diaspora sponsors, they are on our watchlist. They are watchlisted, any attempt they make to come into the country, we’ll be notified and they will be picked up and handed to the appropriate authorities,” Nandap stated.
The Immigration boss said the agency had in response to the protest, deployed more officers to borders, both land and airports, to ensure effective manning of those entry points. She said the agency had also stepped up surveillance to prevent foreign intervention in the country.
Also, the Director-General, Department of State Services, DSS, Yusuf Bichi, said that the Service has uncovered some sponsors but declined to give further information.
The DG represented by the DSS spokesperson, said that some accounts had been blocked, adding that identities of sponsors of foreign flags distribution would soon be made public.
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