Military May Help Police to Stop Looters-Chief of Defence Staff

As the nationwide protests against hardship entered its second day, Friday, with more intensity, the Chief of Defence Staff , General Christopher Gwabin Musa, appraised the situation vis-à-vis the carnage wrought by hoodlums who hijacked the process in several northern states, and described what he had seen so far as “crazy”.

But the CDS, who made the declaration while addressing a press conference in Abuja, said the military would not fold its arms and watch the nation go up in flame. The military may step in to help the police if it becomes evident that the situation is spiraling to dangerous limits.

Stating categorically that the Armed Forces will take action and stop the reign of brigands and looters who hijacked the demonstrations, General Musa declared:

“We are supporting the police all through. We are just on standby. The police is doing a good job; they are handling the situation for now. Unless it breaches beyond what they can handle then the military will step in. The military is on standby and we are watching day and night.”

General Musa described the devastation and destruction that hoodlums unleashed in some places on Thursday as “unimaginable”, but reiterated that the Armed Forces will not fold their arms.

“Yesterday (Thursday), we saw the level of destruction that has been carried out. Just yesterday. So you can imagine if this continues for so long.

“Yesterday, we saw some people breaking down houses, stealing windows and doors. It was just crazy yesterday and we don’t want that to happen again.

“The Armed Forces and the entire security agencies will not stand by and see that to continue. We want to warn those that are recalcitrant; those that don’t want to listen that we will not fold our arms and allow this country to be destroyed.

“We will take action and the action we will take, we will take it professionally. Anyone that is caught will be taken to court and will be dealt with,” he said.

“There are a bunch of people who believe that it is only through this medium that they will be able to loot, steal and destroy. And that is what they tried to do yesterday but we have arrested most of them that broke into places to steal and they will be prosecuted accordingly,” he added.

The CDS, who maintained that the police have been doing a good job since the protests started on Thursday, assured that sponsors of the looting and destruction will be identified and brought to account.

“We are also going behind to ensure that we also identify those that are involved,” he declared. “There are individuals who are sponsoring them, pushing them to do this. We are going after them.”

He appealed to the media not to cover the activities of the protesters, especially people “who want a moment of fame”.

He also had a word for those he described as “peaceful protesters”. He said their message had been passed to the federal, state and local governments. They should, therefore, not to allow troublemakers and fifth columnists to unleash mayhem and bring the nation to its knees.

“We know we are challenged as a nation but we know we will overcome working together as Nigerians… Let us avoid anything that will bring mayhem to our country,” General Musa said.

Urging Nigerians to be patient, the Chief of Defence Staff said the Bola Tinubu Administration had been in power for just one year and has been doing its best to bring the economy back to winning ways.

He emphasized that the current economic crisis and spiraling was not peculiar to Nigeria, as it was a global phenomenon. He, therefore, urged Nigerians to give the administration more time to address the challenges.

“So, we want to call on all Nigerians to understand the government,” General Musa continued. “If you have grievances, which I know people have, a lot of challenges here and there, and it is not only in Nigeria alone; everywhere in the world is facing one economic or security crisis or the other. And so, it is important to understand that we are not alone.

“But what we can do is not allow criminals and individuals that have lost out to take advantage of this to destroy our country. We should realise that these destructions, monies have to be used to replace them so that we can move forward.”