The Federal Government has today warned Nigerians from harassing police officers from their duty beats, instead, they should be appreciated together with other security agencies for their selfless service.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed stated this today in Lagos while having a meeting with Title Editors of Nigerian newspapers, urging Nigerians to stop demonizing the police because of few bad ones amongst them.
The Minister said, “Today, many of them are even afraid to wear their uniforms and the result has not been pleasant, in terms of security of life and property.
“I want to remind all of us of the saying that a society that makes war against its police had better learned to make friends with its criminals,”, Mr. Mohammed added.
He said, about 37 policemen and six soldiers were murdered during the protest across the country.
The minister added that despite the lives of security agents that were lost, eight medium-security custodial centers in six states – Edo, Lagos, Abia, Delta, Ondo, and Ebonyi states were attacked.
He said the attack led to the release of 1,957 inmates, the most dangerous criminals set free by the hoodlums. More so, he revealed over 100 AK47 rifles were carted away by the criminals increasing the threat of armed robbery and other sundry crimes across the nation.
Mr. Mohammed lamented that the Civil Society Organisation and media outlets were interested in reporting fake news instead while lots of security personnel’s lost their lives.
He noted that no life was more important than the other, adding that respect for human rights should not be selective.
Meanwhile, he applauded state governments that had taken bold steps to shore up the morale of the police.
