The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, has directed his men across the country to "deal decisively" with arsonists and troublemakers as youths stage #EndBadGovernance protests against hunger and economic hardship across the Federation starting on Thursday.
In a statement he personally signed on the eve of the nationwide protests, the police boss said the organisers of the planned demonstrations failed to furnish the police with the details of the protests including the names of intending participants, routes of rallies, among others.
The IGP said "the name given to the movement — 'Take It Back Movement' has far-reaching undemocratic, unconstitutional and illegal connotations".
He said intelligence revealed that the protests are aimed at unleashing mayhem on the polity and innocent citizens.
Egbetokun said the police won't fold their arms and watch a degeneration of the situation into a "state of anomy".
He put all police formations across the country on alert to protect innocent lives and properties from attack and destruction.
"All officers and men of the Nigeria Police are hereby directed to act and deal decisively with any act of arson, intimidation or harassment of any citizen, threat to lives and properties, breach of peace and any act of criminality that may arise or flow from the planned protest in any part of the country.
"Perpetrators of any crime will be arersted and promptly prosecuted," he said.
The planned protests against economic hardship, which is gaining traction on social media, have been scheduled to be held across all states of the Federation as well as the nation's capital Abuja in August.
Prices of food and basic commodities have gone through the roof in the last months, as Nigerians battle one of the country's worst inflation rates and economic crises sparked by the government's twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and unification of forex windows.
The police, military and the Department of State Services had warned against Kenya-styled protests. Politicians, who surmised that the planned rallies might end up like the EndSARS demonstrations of October 2020, have continued to appeal to youths to shelve the planned rallies but the young people remain unfazed, doggedly insisting that the protests will hold.
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