The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, SAN, says the ongoing #EndSARS protest rocking the country is becoming a mob action.
According to him, some criminal elements have mixed with genuine protesters to unleash terror on citizens and members of the Nigeria Police Force.
The minister said the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), was committed to improved welfare for members of the police, noting that the President increased salaries of policemen in the country two years ago.
Keyamo was reacting to one of the demands of #EndSARS protesters who want better remuneration for police officers nationwide.
The PUNCH had earlier reported that after days of protests against the brutality and extrajudicial killings by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, on Sunday afternoon, announced the disbandment of the police unit.
Adamu said a new policing arrangement to replace the now-defunct police unit would be announced “in due course”, adding that all officers of the disbanded SARS have been redeployed with “immediate effect”.
But the protesters want the police authorities to carry out psychological evaluation and re-training of all disbanded SARS officers before they are redeployed.
They demand the release of all arrested protesters, justice for all deceased victims of police brutality and appropriate compensation for their families.
They also want increased salaries for police officers as well as the establishment of an independent body to oversee the investigation and prosecution of all reports of police misconduct.
