3rd November, 2020
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
The Inspector General of Police, IGP, Mohammed Adamu, on Tuesday visited Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to commiserate with him over the devastation in the state in the aftermath of #EndSARS violence.
The IGP also urged policemen not to be discouraged as a result of attacks on them and police stations.
Speaking with newsmen at the State House, Marina, after visiting the governor, the IGP said the policemen should see what happened to them as part of the risks in the job.
Adamu said the morale of men of Nigeria police is down but encouraged them not to be demoralised by the ugly incident.
“Lagos seems to be the epicentre where the incidents took place. The amount of destruction is more in Lagos than any other state. I am here to commiserate with the governor of Lagos State and the people of the state on the amount of destruction to public property and private businesses.
“My visit is also to see the Police stations that were destroyed and talk to officers and men of the Nigerian Police and encourage them not to be demoralised by events that took place where they were attacked and police stations destroyed,” he said.
According to Adamu, “they are specially trained to take this kind of risks because by the nature of police job, they are exposed to this type of risk. Now that this has happened, it shouldn’t discourage us from performing our constitutional duties. The morale of some of them have been dampened so the visit is to encourage them not to to be discouraged but come out to protect lives and property.
“Apart of the police stations destroyed, private businesses were destroyed even the palace of Oba of Lagos was destroyed. I would urge the citizens any time you want to undertake a peaceful protest, it’s important to set up a protocol in order not to allow miscreants to hijack the protest. The moment you allowed that, the intent of the protest will be defeated as in the case of this peaceful protest we witnessed.
“No nation will be able to bear the loss like we see in Lagos. Even it will take a long time.”