Police beg Abuja residents not to join protests against hardship

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Commissioner of Police, Benneth Igweh, has appealed to residents of Abuja, urging them not to participate in the planned protests against economic hardship scheduled for August.

CP Igweh said he is concerned that criminals could exploit such protests to damage the newly developed infrastructure in the FCT.

The CP stated this in a press briefing in Abuja on Monday, where several criminal suspects were paraded.

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CP Igweh said, “Lions do not destroy their den. We have worked tirelessly to ensure the security of the FCT, even going as far as Kaduna, Kogi, and Nasarawa to apprehend criminals disrupting Abuja’s peace.

We have lost officers in these efforts—two last week and one the week before. We do not wish to lose any more lives.

“Please do not allow the destruction of what the minister and Mr. President have achieved. Significant improvements have been made in roads and infrastructure.

“I am pleading with residents not to join this protest. We don’t want miscreants from outside the FCT to cause havoc, bringing us back to where we were before.

“Let us collectively ensure the safety of the FCT. If protesters wish to express their grievances, let them do so elsewhere, not here.”

In a related development, the Lagos State Arewa Community in the All Progressives Congress (APC) has called on northern leaders and other prominent elder statesmen in Nigeria to urge President Bola Tinubu to prioritize good representation and significantly increase food production to prevent the anticipated protest and its potential negative consequences.

Chairman of the Arewa Community APC Lagos, Alhaji Sa’adu Yusuf Dandare Gulma, made the statement while addressing the press on Monday.

He also instructed the Arewa youths and members not to participate in any protest scheduled for August 1, 2024.

He said: “The attention of the Arewa community in Lagos State has been drawn to the call for a proposed strike action come August 1, 2024, in Lagos and some other states across Nigeria. We are hereby calling on our very hardworking youths and members to distance themselves from the protest because it will further impoverish and worsen our predicament.

“The last time a protest was held in Lagos and Nigeria, most of our public infrastructure—buses, poor people’s shops, and even families—suffered great losses, so we are saying no protest, and we will not be an instrument for protest.