Lekki shootings: Why I cried – El-Rufai

Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna, says he was moved to tears over the destruction of public assets in Lagos.

The #EndSARS protests against police brutality was hijacked by hoodlums, resulting in arson, vandalisation and looting.

On Wednesday, el-Rufai visited Babajide Sanwo-Olu, his Lagos coyunterpart, whom he said did his best to prevent the peaceful #EndSARS protests from degenerating into chaos.

According to a statement by Gboyega Akosile, chief press secretary to Lagos state governor, el- Rufai who described the destruction as “pure evil”, said the youth involved would suffer the repercussion of their actions.

“I have spent time to see some of the pictures of the destruction done on public properties 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, ” el-Rufai said.

“While expressing anger on police brutality may be right, destroying public properties, 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.

“As a colleague, I can confirm that governor of Lagos did all that could be done to ensure that this destruction does not take place. 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 do whatever support Lagos needs from us to get back better.”

El-Rufai condoled with the police and those who lost loved ones in the wake of the violence, asking the federal government to prevent the recurrence of wanton destruction of public assets.

On his part, Sanwo- Olu assured el-Rufai that the state is already taking deliberate steps to recoup the losses suffered and revive the economy.

He vowed “to make the state uncomfortable for those with the intention to destroy the state’s economy and heritage”, adding that the government is committed to ensuring justice for all victims of police brutality.