Nigeria’s Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, has said that the protests in Nigeria have been sponsored by “subversive elements” who are bent on destroying Nigeria’s democracy, and that the Navy will not sit back and let that happen.
The Naval Chief said this in a press briefing forum set up by the Armed Forces of Nigeria to address the violent turn of the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protests, where the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Kemi Nanna Nandap, also noted that those in diaspora who are sponsoring these protests are being watched, and will be apprehended if they make any attempts to get into the country.
Ogalla said, “As we have seen that the protest has taken a new dimension to the extent that it has become something that appears to be subversive in nature, because when you are protesting for bad governance or you’re protesting for poverty, and then we see people deliberately calling for change of government, unconstitutional change of government, people asking for foreign intervention in our country, it shows that the intention of some of these protesters are not exactly what Nigerians were made to believe.
“It is obvious to us that many of these protesters are sponsored by subversive elements who are bent on destroying the peace that we have enjoyed in the last 25 years of democratic governance. It is also obvious to us that these people who want to perpetrate this ideology have other intentions other than the intentions which they have made the gullible Nigerians to believe.
“And for that reason, as part of our constitutional responsibility which is protection of the sovereignty of this country, and provision of aid to civil authority, we are ready, and we stand firm and resolute to provide the needed assistance to the Nigerian police in order to ensure that law and order is restored in all parts of this country where this violent protest has started. We will not renege in our responsibility, and we are ready to do it with the last drop of our bloods, that I can assure you.”
The NIS Boss Kemi Nanna Nandap then said, “Some of these sponsors, some of these people who are actually in diaspora, we have a number of them who actually are instigating this mayhem that we’re seeing right now. What we’ve done is we’ve had them on our watchlist, and they’ve been watchlisted. We have them on our radars, and we’re making sure that any attempt they make to come into the country, we’ll notify the necessary authorities.
“And we’re working closely, of course, with the NIA and the DSS of course, and the NSAs office so that all those that we have in diaspora that are trying to subvert the authority of this nation, they are in our radars, we have them watchlisted, and any attempt they make to come into the country, we’ll be notified and we also know what to do. We’ll notify the necessary authorities. So, in essence, we’re also making sure that everyone who is not supposed to come into the country, any person who is of interest in terms of these activities going on right now, we will make sure that as they come in, they’re handed over to the necessary authorities.”
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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