The Commissioner of Police, Kanayo Uzuegbu, made the promise during a stakeholders' meeting in Enugu, urging leaders to discourage violence and prevent exploitation by criminal elements.
The Enugu State Police Command has assured residents of the state of their safety during the upcoming "Day of Rage" protests against governance issues in Nigeria.
The Commissioner of Police, Kanayo Uzuegbu, made the promise during a stakeholders' meeting in Enugu, urging leaders to discourage violence and prevent exploitation by criminal elements.
While acknowledging the right to peaceful protest, Uzuegbu cited intelligence suggesting a potential hijacking of the protest and emphasised the need for a peaceful atmosphere.
The meeting, sponsored by the state government, aimed to promote a safe and secure environment during the planned protests.
A statement by the Command's spokesman DSP Daniel Ndukwe, said that the CP reaffirmed the resolve of the Police and other security forces to collaborate and ensure a peaceful atmosphere in Enugu State.
"Nonetheless, the Commissioner tasked the stakeholders to dissuade their subjects from engaging in or allowing themselves to be used to perpetrate violence under the guise of protest.
"He acknowledged the right of citizens to assemble and express their grievances. But warned that such rights must be exercised in line with the provisions of the law, particularly the Public Order Act, which stipulates compulsory application and obtaining approval for such exercises."
Speaking during a part of the meeting with traditional rulers and the president generals of communities, at the House of Chiefs, Enugu, the Chairman of both the Enugu State and Southeast traditional rulers' council, Igwe Samuel Asadu, thanked the CP for engaging the royal fathers on the critical issue of the nationwide protest.
He assured that the traditional rulers would do everything possible to discourage their subjects from being part of the protest, given the uncertainties surrounding the exercise.
Similarly, the religious, markets, transport, youth, and students’ leaders, who met with the CP at the State Command Headquarters in Enugu, stressed the need for those planning to hold the protest in Enugu State to rethink and shelve the idea.
They emphasised that this was to help avoid the impending hijack of the protest and the consequent violence, destruction of lives, property, and looting.
The leaders further maintained that anything that would bring about reliving the horrible “EndSARS” protest, despite the current hardship, must be loathed by all and sundry