The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, has said that the military will not step in if nationwide #EndbadGovernance protests continue.
General Musa also cautioned the media against giving undue publicity to the protesters.
The CDS stated this on Friday while briefing journalists on the nationwide protests against hardship and hunger in the country.
He said the protests, though peaceful, have been hijacked by criminal elements who went on a looting spree.
“The Armed Forces and the entire security agencies will not stand by and see that to continue. We want to warn those that are in the house, those that don’t want to listen. We will not fold our hands and see our country destroyed.
“We will take action and the action will be taken professionally. Anyone that is caught will be taken to the courts to be dealt with,” he said.
He continued, “And again, for the media, I want to also appeal. I noticed throughout yesterday (Thursday), all the stations were hooked up to the occasion. This is not an election thing.
We don’t give them that coverage for them to feel. Some of them are looking for just moments of being on the screen. Together, I can assure you, they are going to win. And they are winning. At least from today, we have seen the level. It has really gone down.”
The Defence Chief said the federal government under President Bola Tinubu is just one year in office and “it is not possible for them to have to solve every financial, economic, security situation within one year. But I’m sure, efforts have been made and have continued to be made.
“And I’ve seen policies that have been made to address the economic situation on the ground, including security situation. Things are improving. We are not where we were, but I can assure you we are heading there.”
He said the government has listened to the grievances of the protesters and steps were being taken to address them.
“The message has already been passed to the federal government, state government and local government,” the CDS reiterated.
General Musa said President Tinubu has already granted autonomy for the local government areas in order to have direct funding from the federal government.
He said despite genuine efforts, some people were bent on taking advantage of the protest to loot and cause mayhem which will be resisted.
“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’s what they tried to do yesterday. But we have arrested most of them who have actually been able to break into places to steal,” he added.
He said the Military will step in if things spiral beyond the control of the Police which he commended for their efforts so far. He, however, assured that, “Unless if it breaks beyond what they can handle, then the military will step in. And the military is on standby and they are watching.”
He added that the military was making efforts to identify those sponsoring the protests.
“We are taking steps on that. We are going also behind to ensure that we also identify all those ones that are involved. There are individuals that are actually sponsoring to do this. We are going after that. But the truth I can tell is that everybody should come. Everybody should be open-minded in what’s going on.”