REPORT: Cross River lost properties worth N73bn to #EndSARS

03 Feb REPORT: Cross River lost properties worth N73bn to #EndSARS

At the peak of the #EndSARS protest in October 2020, properties and items worth over N73 billion were vandalised by thugs in Cross River State, the Senate has said.

Properties and businesses of top politicians in the state like the former governors of the state, Liyel Imoke and Donald Duke, were affected.

Serving and former senators from the state – Gershom Bassey, Ndoma Egba, Bassey Henshaw and a member of the House of Representatives, Etta Mbora, also fell victims of the vandalism.

This was contained in a report of the Joint Committee on National Security and Intelligence, Defence, Police Affairs and Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters on the “mayhem visited on the Ancient City of Calabar during the EndSARS Protest on 23rd and 24th of October, 2020.”

In November 2020, the joint committee was asked to probe the alleged destruction of properties in the state after the Senate deliberated on a motion by Gershom Bassey on the mayhem in Calabar during the protest.

The #EndSARS protest, which lasted for over three weeks, saw both Nigerians across the country and foreigners across the world call for a total reform of the Police Force and particularly the dissolution of a unit, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

The movement, which first began in 2017, erupted in fresh protests in October 2020 in cities such as Lagos, Abuja, Asaba, Ibadan, Osogbo, Benin City, Port Harcourt among others, over police brutality and extrajudicial killings by SARS operatives.

The protest was, however, hijacked by hoodlums at some point, in different cities as they attacked protesters and destroyed properties.

Senate panel’s report

In the 69-page report presented by its chairman, Ibrahim Gobir, the committee said investigative hearings revealed that the violence in Calabar, the state capital, which led to the looting and destruction of private and government-owned properties was “largely spontaneous with no identified goals, leaders, sponsors or financiers”, describing it as a “free reign for amorphous groups, gangs and criminals.”

Mr Gobir said the financial value of the vandalised items submitted by affected persons and verified by a committee set up by the state governor, Ben Ayade, amounts to the tune of N73 billion and the governor has since written to President Muhammadu Buhari requesting funds in the sum – to enable the state rebuild, reconstruct and compensate individuals and groups who had lost properts.

Findings

The committee noted that a total of 41 government properties were vandalised by hoodlums during the protest around Calabar Municipal and neighbouring Bakassi, Odukpani and Akpabuyo Local Government Areas of the state.

It said at the time of the invasion of homes, security agencies failed to promptly respond to distress calls from victims and several victims got hint of the planned attacks before the actual acts.

“The Police, Department of State Services and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps were overwhelmed by the sheer number of the protesters who unleashed mayhem on Calabar.

“While the Police lacked adequate personnel, vehicles, arms, ammunitions and other tactical equipment for effective policing of the city, 106 suspects were arrested, 90 per cent of which were indigenes of Akwa Ibom State.

“Internally Displaced Persons of Bakassi Peninsular have not been resettled by the federal government, neither has any kind of respite given to them,” the report read.

Testimony

In his presentation, Mr Gobir disclosed that one of the victims of the protest, a former senator, Mr Henshaw, appeared before the panel and narrated his ordeal.

He had said it took a miracle to get Mr Henshaw, his wife and daughter out from the mob “which vandalised its way right into his bedroom.”

Mr Gobir said Mr Henshaw told the panel that the attacks “were deliberately orchestrated by some politicians who perceived them as political enemies.”

He also said the former lawmaker attributed the violence to the displacement of the people of Bakassi as a result of ceding their homelands to the Republic of Cameroon, a situation “which turned some of them into militants”.

Mr Henshaw, according to Mr Gobir, also alleged that the protest was used as an opportunity by militants to unleash mayhem on the city, adding that he lost properties to the tune of N9.3 billion to the protest.

Recommendations

Top of the panel’s recommendations is a demand to the federal government to immediately evolve and reform the police.

This, it said, can be achieved by employing more able bodied personnel, injecting more financial resources for the purpose of procuring arms, ammunition and other policing gadgets, as well as undertaking regular trainings – to be in tandem with international best practices.

The Senate panel also recommended that educational programmes and curriculum should be geared towards inculcating functional education in the individuals; empowering them with academic, technical and vocational capabilities.