Ahead of the planned nationwide hardship protest by some human rights activists and Nigerian youths to publicly express their displeasure over hunger and hardship in the country, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), FCT Command has deployed 4,200 personnel in the Territory.
Leadership Newspaper reports that the FCT Police spokesperson, SP Josephine Adeh, disclosed that material and human resources at the Command’s disposal were deployed across the nooks and crannies of the nation’s capital Territory.
She added that the proactive deployment, which was aimed at ensuring public safety, protection of protesters, and preventing protests from being hijacked by non-state actors, was characterised by visibility policing, the deployment of explosive ordinance devices (EOD) experts and personnel at various strategic locations, raids on identified black spots, uncompleted buildings/shanties, stop and search, vehicular and foot patrol and synergy with sister security agencies.
Also, the FCT Commissioner of Police, CP Benneth Igweh, while acknowledging the right of residents to protest, advised that the exercise should be peaceful.
The FCT police boss also vowed to resist all forms of violent protest and lawlessness, as the police will not be stampeded into allowing the destruction of public and private properties or loss of lives.
The statement added that residents were also urged to be vigilant and take advantage of the Police emergency lines to report suspicious activities through: 08032003913, 08028940883, 08061581938, 07057337653 PCB: 09022222352, CRU: 08107314192.
Meanwhile, the nationwide protest is scheduled to be held from August 1, 2024.