The Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has said that the young people, who carried out violence in Lagos State during the EndSARS protest, intentionally engaged in an act of ‘self-destruction’, stressing that the repercussion of the action would be felt by them.
El-Rufai, who visited Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu at the State House in Marina to commiserate with him over the coordinated arson sparked by the #EndSARS protest, described the gravity of the destruction as ‘pure evil’ as he said he nearly shed tears as he flicked through the images of the torched Lagos assets.
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According to him, Lagos State, which accounts for one-third of the nation’s GDP, does not deserve to suffer such pain.
He said: “I have spent time to see some of the pictures of the destruction done on public property in Lagos and I nearly shed tears.
“Anyone who cares about development and progress will cry after seeing what has been done to public facilities and people’s investment that provided jobs to youths.
“While expressing anger on police brutality may be right, but destroying public property, which will have to be rebuilt using money that is needed to invest in other public infrastructure, under the guise of protest, is nothing but self-destruction.
“The Government of Lagos and the Federal Government will have to re-invest scarce resources that could have been used for other things to rebuild the vandalised facilities,” he lamented.
El-Rufai, who said that the youth protest against the police was not out of order, noted that it was wrong for the protesters to call for disbandment of the entire police force because of the action of a few bad eggs.
The Kaduna Governor also said: “As a colleague, I can confirm that the Governor of Lagos did all that could be done to ensure that this destruction does not take place but those who thrive in violence infiltrated the protest to achieve their agenda of wreaking a large-scale destruction on public assets and infrastructure in Lagos,”
“It is very sad to see what had happened in Lagos.
“I want to assure you that we will support you getting Lagos back on track.
“We will give whatever support Lagos needs from us to get back better,” he assured.
While he sympathised with the Police and those who lost their loved ones in the wake of the violence, he stressed that the Federal Government must not allow wanton destruction of public assets to happen again.
Sanwo-Olu, who received his colleague from Kaduna, told him that Lagos had started to look forward and engage in new partnerships towards restoring the lost assets while he vowed to make the State uncomfortable for those with the intention to destroy the State’s economy and heritage.
Despite the ugly incident that trailed the protest, Sanwo-Olu said the State Government remained committed to getting justice for those who were brutalised by the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) team of the police.
He thanked El-Rufai for the extension of support towards rebuilding the State, welcoming all forms of assistance that could be rendered to keep the State flourishing for businesses.
It would be recalled that hoodlums, who hijacked the #EndSARS protest in Lagos State, unleashed mayhem on the State, destroying both public and private assets.
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