The Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, disclosed on Monday that a foreign national, allegedly involved in the Sudan crisis, was among the organisers of the recent
#EndBadGovernance protests across Nigeria. Egbetokun made these revelations during a Youth Summit held in Abuja, where he also clarified that the police did not raid the headquarters of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) but targeted an office within the building used by the foreigner.
Egbetokun emphasised that the raid was not directed at labour leaders but was a strategic operation to apprehend the foreign national who had been traced to an office at the Labour House. Although the suspect managed to escape, the police recovered valuable documents linked to his activities.
The police chief explained, “Our responsibility is not to protest but to manage protests. We received intelligence indicating that certain agents of destabilisation were planning to exploit the hardship protests to destabilise our country. Some of these individuals are foreigners, including one who was traced to the Labour House. We raided only the office he was using as a front, and we have been monitoring his activities closely. This individual was very active in the Sudan crisis and is now in Nigeria, mobilising people to destabilise our country.”
Egbetokun also expressed concerns about protests initiated on social media, citing the #EndSARS protests of 2020 as a precedent. He argued that such protests have a high potential for violence due to the diverse and sometimes criminal elements that social media mobilisation can attract. “Our experience with previous protests makes us cautious about any protest that has the potential to turn violent,” he added.
At the summit, former Vice-Chancellor of Lagos State University, Olanrewaju Fagbohun, who was the guest lecturer, urged the federal government to engage Nigerian youth actively in addressing the current challenges facing the country.
