President Muhammadu Buhari has assured Nigerians that there wouldn’t be a repeat of #EndSARS protests in Nigeria, stressing that his administration would do whatever it takes to prevent any more agitation.
The president gave the assurance on Tuesday at the quarterly meeting of National Security Council (NSC) held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Briefing State House reporters after the meeting, the Minister of Police Affairs, Muhammad Dingyadi said the President also reassured that all stakeholders would be involved in the process of maintaining peace in the country, particularly the youth, community leaders, traditional rulers, politicians, public servants, and religious leaders among others.
When asked whether the process of maintaining peace would include a crackdown on potential protesters, the minister replied: “On the issue of #EndSARS that you have raised, what we are saying is that government will continue to dialogue, it will continue to listen and will continue to carry all stakeholders along in ensuring that there is no repeat of what happened that destroyed a lot of properties, public and private, individuals in this country.”
The minister further disclosed that the NSC meeting convened to brief Mr President about security situation noted with concern the increasing cases of armed banditry particularly in the north-west and north eastern part of the country.
According to him, the meeting agreed to be more proactive in dealing with the situation in a more decisive manner, adding that the meeting noted the need to pay greater attention to the police in the discharge of its functions to maintain peace in the country and in the areas of equipment and modern technology.
“The meeting thanked the president for the concern which he has shown in repositioning the police to perform more effectively.
“Mr President thanked members for the efforts they are making in maintains peace and assured members that he will do whatever it takes to support security agencies in providing peace in the country,” he added.
When asked about how soon Nigerians should expect the difference in improved security in the affected areas and what kind of decisive action to look out for, Dingyadi said:
“Let me say that in whatever one does, you must have a timeline, you must have your targets and you must work towards achieving those targets. We have our timelines, we have our targets and we are working towards achieving those targets.
“On decisive action means, it’s an all-inclusive action that is going to be taken to ensure that in terms of technology, equipment we can face these challenges head on.”
The minister, while reacting to the concerns that police had abandoned Abuja-Kaduna road and the plans to ensure peace return to the route, said it was an overstatement to insinuate that the highway had been deserted by security agents.
