Police, DSS Deny Using Life Bullets on Journalists, Protesters

Ikechukwu Aleke in Abuja

The Nigerian Police Force and its undercover counterpart, the Department of State Service (DSS), Monday denied the alleged use of life bullets on protesters and Journalists covering the EndBadGovernance protest across the federation.

Force Spokesperson ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi and Spokesperson of DSS,
Dr. Peter Afunanya, refuted the allegations while fielding questions from journalists at the monthly briefing of the Strategic Communication Interagency Policy Committee (SCIPC), hosted by the Department of State Service and coordinated by Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) in Abuja.

The duo also noted that no fewer than 30 subversive elements that hijacked the protest and publicly displayed Russian flags and called on Russian President to compromise the nation’s sovereignty were arrested and will soon have a date in court for treasonable felony.

They also disclosed that one of the supplier of the Russian flags to protesters was also picked up in Nasarawa local government area of Kano state, in the early hours of yesterday. They disclosed that some religious sets in Northern Nigeria had infiltrated the protest with sinister motives.

Adejobi said: “I don’t have the information that police personnel have been firing life ammunition on protesters and journalists at the states and FCT. There was allegations that police personnel were firing at protesters in Kano but I don’t have that report. However, we were able to recover two AK 47 from the protesters. So if we have been recovering arms from them, if they bear arms, who knows who pulled the trigger?

“It is a difficult thing for us to stand here to say that the police or any other security agencies have been using life ammunition. What I know is that personnel of FCT command is not engaged in the use of life ammunition, may be the DSS will know those who are deployed, but to the best of my knowledge the protest have been well managed by security agencies”.

He further explained that police personnel were stoned and they still exercised restraint, noting that “We should be commended for job well done for managing the protest professionally. It is not easy to manage a complex nation like Nigeria”.

On protesters raising Russian flags, Adejobi said, the police has been able to arrest some individual who are engaged in treasonable felony for carrying the flag of a foreign country on our land, it is a criminal offence.

According to him, we have them arrested, just this morning, we have arrested one Ahmed Tailor in Nasarawa local government area of Kano state for producing in large quantity Russian flags and giving them to young Nigerians to hoist, for reason best known to him.

“We are profiling him. We want to get other sponsors like him. As I speak with you, the same thing is happening in Kaduna. We have been able to arrest 30 of them with same Russian flags. I don’t want to believe that we are still having a protest, the undertones of these protest, based on our intelligence before the commencement of the protest have began to manifest. I don’t want to believe that the EndBadGovernance protest will degenerate to a level where foreign country’s flag will be displayed in Nigeria. Unfortunately It is spreading from one state to the other. Is this still a protest?,” he queried.

He said, the police and other security agencies will not fold their hands and see anarchy in the land again, concluding that Nigeria cannot afford a repeat of EndSARS experience again.

On his part, the Director, Directorate of Public Relations and Strategic Communications, DSS, Peter Afunanya, said wearing a plain clothe does not make any person a DSS personal.

He however, assured the public that the allegations of using life ammunition on journalists and protesters will be investigated.

He said, “The media should be careful the way they slant stories, some miscreants, not protesters this time, in Kano were vandalising private and public facilities and confronting security agencies who tried to stop them from attacking members of the public. And the story in the media was that the military, police and DSS were attacking protesters, it is not proper. We need your support to have peace in our land. We will investigate the matter to know exactly what transpired but I can assure you that no DSS personnel will fire a shot at a journalist”.

He recalled that on the 25th of July, the service issued a press statement and they stated particularly that information available to them showed that some persons have concluded arrangements to infiltrate the planned protest and it will not be good for citizens to proceed with the plan protest.

He added that fortunately one of the lawyers to the protesters Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN) has expressed his regrets for urging them on and he is calling on the protester to halt the protest.

“But when you have loosen a dog, bringing it back becomes a problem, the dog may not even know the owner again. It is easy to set a house ablaze but extinguishing it becomes a problem,” he said.

According to him, to be specific, the DSS has not in any way infringed or gagged the media or the protesters, what we have done is to ensure safety of the people by working with citizens and relevant stakeholders to ensure that there is peace.