The Nigerian Army has narrated how military intervention sequel to request by Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, saved the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu from being attacked by hoodlums.
Prompt News recalls that hoodlums had invaded the Oba’s palace and carted away several items including the Staff of Office in the aftermath of the #EndSARS protest in Lagos state.
Addressing the Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and Other Matters on Saturday, Brigadier General Ahmed Taiwo, who is the Brigade Commander of the 81 Division, Military Intelligence Brigade, Victoria Island, Lagos, said calling on the army to intervene was the correct thing to do by the governor.
“Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu asked the army to intervene which was the correct thing to do,” he said.
Playing a video of the siege of the palace of the Oba of Lagos by hoodlums, Taiwo said that the monarch and his family had to be rescued from the chaos by the Nigerian Army.
His words, “Both the Oba and his family were ferried to safety by the Nigerian Army,” Taiwo said as he played a video recording of the monarch and his family being rescued and taken into a military pickup truck.”
Taiwo who testified before the panel using a projector had shown graphic images of policemen being lynched, police stations being looted and burnt, as well as citizens resorting to cannibalism by eating the burnt flesh of the corpses of lynched police officers.
“Many of us have lived through the 70s to the 2000s, and one thing I have said is that once a peaceful protest goes beyond three days there are hoodlums waiting in the wings to hijack it and cause mayhem and this was no different.
“It is the task of the armed forces to intervene when the security task overwhelms the police and other paramilitary services.”
