#EndSARS: 1,596 Suspects in Police net for alleged looting, violence

*205 critical national security assets, corporate facilities and private properties were attacked, burnt or vandalised by suspects, says Mohammed Adamu, Inspector-General of Police

Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect

In regard to violence, arson, and widespread looting associated with the #EndSARS protests in Nigeria, Mr. Mohammed Adamu, Inspector-General of Police (IGP), has disclosed that at least 1,596 suspects have been arrested and detained thus far.

Adamu, while speaking in a virtual conference with Senior Police officers in Abuja, FCT, stated that statistics collated between 11th October, 2020 when the protests assumed a national dimension and 27th October, 2020, indicated that 14 states recorded major violence, The Nation report said.

This, according to him, led to attacks on critical security infrastructure, other corporate and private properties as well as injuries or fatalities to civilians, the Police and other security agents.

Some of the arrested suspects

The IGP said: “The States include Lagos, Edo, Delta, Oyo, Kano, Plateau, Osun, Ondo, Ogun, Rivers, Abia, Imo, and Ekiti States and the FCT.

“In total, seventy-one (71) public warehouses and two hundred and forty-eight (248) privately owned stores were looted in the course of the protests nationwide.

“A total of fifty-one (51) civilian fatalities and thirty-seven (37) civilian injuries have been recorded, while a total of twenty-two (22) policemen were gruesomely murdered with twenty-six (26) others injured by the protesters.

According to Adamu, “two hundred and five (205) critical national security assets, corporate facilities and private properties were attacked, burnt or vandalised.

“So far, a total of ten (10) firearms including eight (8) AK 47 rifles carted away during the attack on Police Stations, and a locally made pistol have been recovered from elements operating under the guise of the EndSARS protesters.”

Besides, the Police Chief revealed that 1,596 suspects have so far been arrested in connection with the violence and widespread looting by the protesters across the country.

“The breakdown shows that five hundred and twenty (520) suspects were arrested in Lagos; three hundred and sixty-seven (367) in Plateau State; two hundred and ten (210) in the FCT and one hundred and forty-two (142) in Kwara State.

“Similarly, eighty-two (82) suspects were apprehended in Osun State; sixty (60) in Adamawa State and thirty-six (36) in Kano and Ogun States respectively.”

Others are 33 suspects that were arrested in Edo State; twenty (20) each in Kaduna and Akwa Ibom States; fifteen (15) in Abia and Delta States and thirteen (13) in Oyo and Ekiti States respectively.

“Furthermore, ten (10) suspects were arrested in Rivers State and four (4) in Ondo State. Out of these figures, not less than one thousand, one hundred and seventeen (1,117) have been charged to court across the country,” said he.

He encouraged the officers and men not to be demoralised by recent events, particularly as they relate to the targeted attacks on Police personnel and facilities.