Following the pandemonium that followed the killings of unarmed protesters in Lagos by the Nigerian Army, the Inspector-General of Police Committee on EndSARS Protest Damage Assessment has said that many officers of the force are still unaccounted for and missing.
The committee, which was in Lagos on Saturday to assess the extent of damage to police assets, said that the destruction level suffered by the police would affect the quality of policing and security in the state,
The chairman of the 10-man committee and a Commissioner of Police, Yaro Abutu, disclosed that many policemen had no station to resume to, while many no longer have uniforms.
The Committee chairman added that they are yet to quantify the losses suffered by the Lagos State Police Command as they are already heading to Ogun State in continuation of their assessment.
Abutu said, “Do you know that at some of the stations, we cannot account for the policemen yet because when the mob came, some (cops) were killed and taken away, some were chased into the bush and the waterways. So, these are the kind of things we are still working on.
“We are still collating the number of destroyed police patrol vehicles, exhibits vehicles, personal vehicles and those belonging to the members of the public parked at the stations.
“From the damage recorded in terms of police patrol vans, it has a heavy impact on the quality and availability of patrol services in Lagos for the next few months, even till next year; it is massive. And to compound it, the patrol vans are brand new.”
The commissioner explained that the police officers whose stations were razed were severely limited by the lack of officers from where they could carry out their operations.
“They (policemen) are hanging around their stations like IDPs (internally displaced persons). Not only were the stations burnt, their uniforms were also burnt. Because of the cosmopolitan and congested nature of Lagos, most policemen keep their uniforms in their offices. A good number of them hardly go back home until the weekend.”
He then appealed to those with stolen police firearms to return them.
