Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has disclosed that some of the sponsors of the people who hijacked the planned peaceful protest against bad governance and hunger, fled the country on the eve of the protest before the police could apprehend them.
Speaking at the Nigerian Police Youth Summit held at the Police Resource Centre, Abuja, Egbetokun stated that intelligence reports had indicated that several persons planned to use the protests to wreak havoc on the country.
He revealed that some of these individuals had already left the country, while others departed on the day the protests began.
The police boss added,” If the organizers of the protest were sincere, following our warnings of hijacking it, they would have followed the guidelines or go ahead to meet with the Commissioner of Police of their state. It was for your personal safety.”
The IGP clarified that the police did not raid the Labour house, as alleged by the Nigeria Labour Congress, but rather tracked a prime suspect to a shop where sensitive documents revealing their involvement were recovered.
He said, “There was no need for the noise about the alleged raid on Labour house because we did not raid Labour house. The tracked a prime suspect we were looking for.
“We recovered sensitive documents that gave out the involvement of our suspect. He was using the shop or place of business as a front”.
Egbetokun also said the protest which was tagged “10 days of rage,” was indicative of a lack of peaceful intentions.
“When you tagged the protest 10 days of rage, you know it is not going to be peaceful and you all saw it for yourself,” he said.
