Protest: Military reads riot act to looters

General Christopher Musa, CDS

The military on Friday, warned looters taking advantage of the #EndBadGovernance nationwide protests to desist from the destruction of lives and properties.

At a press conference in the nation’s capital Abuja on the second day of the rallies against economic hardship and high cost of living, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, said the extent of destruction experienced on the first day of the demonstrations was “crazy”.

He said the Armed Forces will take action and won’t allow the looting and destruction to fester.

The defence chief said the Bola Tinubu administration has been in power for one year and the government has been doing its best to boost economic activities.

General Musa said the economic crisis and high cost of living in Nigeria is a global phenomenon. He urged Nigerians to give the government time to address the challenges.

“So, we want to call on all Nigerians to understand the government. 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.

“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,” he said.

General Musa said the level of destruction witnessed in some places on Thursday was unimaginable and the military won’t fold its 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.

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