POLICE authorities have defended the use of teargas on people who gathered for the #FreeNnamdiKanu protest around a major route in Abuja on Monday, arguing that the action was to prevent damage to critical infrastructure in the heart of the nation’s capital.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, who spoke on Channels Television’s Politics Today monitored by News Point Nigeria, on Monday, said the move was in line with a court order which restricted the protesters from converging around Aso Rock Villa, National Assembly, Force Headquarters, Court of Appeal, Eagle Square and Shehu Shagari Way.
“You see, FCT is very big. You can protest anywhere and your voices will still be heard, it will still be reported by the press,” he told the show host Seun Okinbaloye from Channels Television’s Abuja Studio.
“These are critical infrastuture that needs to be protected and don’t forget that these are places that protests have happened in the past and things were destroyed. We have records of that. So, it is our duty as an agency to protect lives and properties; to ensure law and order.
“So, whatever step all lawful steps, we need to take to achieve that mandate is what we’ll take and that was what we did.”
Protesters had on Monday converged near Transcorp Hilton and other areas in the Federal Capital Territory for the demonstrations.
But police operatives and other security personnel had arrived early and fire tear gas to disperse the protesters. Security agents were stationed along major routes leading to Aso Rock while there was heavy presence of officers at Eagle Square, Unity Fountain, and the Three Arms Zone.
Access roads to the Federal Secretariat and the Three Arms Zone were also barricaded.
On Sunday, the police had warned the protesters to comply with a court order restricting demonstrations in designated high-security areas of the capital.
But the leader of the protest, Omoyele Sowore, told Channels Television’s The Morning Brief that the organisers had informed the police about the protest in advance.
Sowore, an activist, alleged that some protesters “were arrested and bystanders were forced into police vehicles”.
“There were about 10 trucks that arrived at the same time we began the protest. There was no provocation on our part. As we had promised, it was an orderly and peaceful protest. It was an unprovoked attack from the police and a combined team of security operatives,” he said.
“We had just started the protest in front of the Transcorp Hotel when a huge contingent of police, army and civil defence officers showed up. We told them we were not their enemies and that the protest was not against them.
“But suddenly, from nowhere, they began shooting at us,tear gas and even some live bullets. Luckily, I don’t think anyone was hit by live ammunition, but they were shooting all around us.
“Eventually, they arrested some people. I heard that Nnamdi Kanu’s younger brother was arrested and beaten, and so was his lawyer. They have been taken to the FCT Command,” the activist explained.
Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), was first arrested in 2015. He was granted bail in 2017 but fled Nigeria following the invasion of his home in Abia State.
In 2021, the IPOB leader was brought back to the country for the continuation of his trial. He is facing charges of terrorism and treasonable felony.