6 Spaniards, real sponsors of protests arrested — Police
ABUJA — The Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, said yesterday the Police have arrested some of the real sponsors of rioters who hoisted foreign flags and called for a change of government in the country in states such as Kano, Kaduna, and Zamfara, among others.
The IGP spoke as the Comptroller-General of Nigerian Immigration Service, Kemi Nandap, disclosed that sponsors of foreign flags by the rioters had been identified to live abroad.
This is even as service chiefs, including the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christoper Musa, and Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Taoreed Lagbaja, warned that the military will not stand idly by and watch the country slide into anarchy.
These came yesterday, as the protest in Port Harcourt intensified, with the protesters marching to the private residence of Minister of Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, and blocking the popular East-West road and other major roads in the state to traffic.
However, there was a thaw in Kano, where the state government modified its dusk-to-dawn curfew between 6 am and 6 pm, and Kaduna, where the curfew imposed by the state government brought about a lull in the city.
Abuja and Lagos were also calm yesterday.
We’ve arrested real sponsors of rioters carrying foreign flags, calling for change of govt — IGP
IGP Egbetokun also disclosed that funders of the violence and subversion both within and outside the country had been tracked, with their accounts blocked and sources of funding stopped.
Egbetokun and other security chiefs spoke at the joint media briefing summoned by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa at Defence Headquarters in Abuja yesterday, noted that the Police had been careful in managing the crisis without deploying water cannons, live and/or rubber bullets but only teargas.
He said the reported shooting of an innocent protester in Kubwa, Abuja, was not the handiwork of Police operatives but armed robbers or armed hoodlums.
“Since August 1, nobody has fired gunshots and we didn’t use force on innocent protesters. We only provided security for them. Even amid the protest, we have arrested several armed robbers, and criminal elements who stole and committed other offences.
Police arrest 6 Spaniards, 76 others in Kano, trail sponsors
Kano State Commissioner of Police, CP Salman Garba, also yesterday said his command arrested no fewer than six Spanish nationals in connection with the protest.
CP Garba, who made this known in a phone interview with Vanguard, said the command also arrested 76 others, including the tailor sewing Russian flags, saying the command is on the trail of the sponsor.
“We have arrested six Spanish nationals and 76 others, including the tailor. We recovered 23 Russian flags, we are trailing the sponsor.
“They have been transferred to Force Headquarters because it has to do with sedition and national security,” the CP stated.
Immigration places sponsors of protest on the watchlist
On her part, the Comptroller-General, Nigeria Immigration Service, Kemi Nandap, revealed that Diaspora sponsors of protesters have been placed on the agency’s watchlist.
