Attackers Of NPA Headquarters Must Be Punished – Amaechi

Attackers Of NPA Headquarters Must Be Punished – Amaechi

The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, on Sunday, described the October 21 attack by hoodlums, masquerading as #EndSARS protesters, on the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) headquarters as disastrous.

During a tour of the NPA headquarters, Mr Amaechi also noted that the perpetrators of the act should be punished.

“The damage is disastrous. No matter how you want to vent your angers over police brutality, you don’t need to destroy people’s properties.

“I was once a student, we did not take laws into our hands even when we were protesting.

“If you remember in 1983, during the time of Babagida and Buhari, we were always on the streets as students, we never took laws into our hands and we never destroyed people’s property.

“During the time of Taiye Solarin, there were national protests, we partook in those protests but we didn’t take laws into our hands.

“It is legitimate to protest and illegitimate to hide under the guise of protests to destroy people’s public properties and the law does not allow closure of highways because there are other road users,” he said.

The minister pointed out that he believes this should not just end here because ”if some people are not punished, some others might want to repeat the crime in future.

On why it took him 32 days to inspect the carnage done to the NPA headquarters, the minister said there was no difference between then and now, indicating that he had been briefed by the NPA management.

“I have made decisions that with the level of damage done here, NPA should be able to come forward to cabinet to ask for funds for the reconstruction of the place,” he said.

Recall that the headquarters of the NPA was attacked by some hoodlums who disguised as #EndSARS protesters to carry out the heinous act.

#EndSARS protests, which rocked the country in the month of October, were initiated by Nigerian youth to protest against brutality, especially the controversial police unit, SARS, now disbanded.
The protest was largely peaceful until hoodlums hijacked it which resulted in arson, looting and killing of security personnel and civilians alike