Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai has appealed to youths in the state to desist from violence against police, stating that they “cannot condemn an entire profession”.
The governor made the appeal on Friday after meeting with youth leaders from the 23 Local Government Areas of the state.
During the stakeholders meeting, El-Rufai vowed to prosecute those behind the looting and threat of peace in Kaduna South and Chikun Local Government Areas according to the law.
“You cannot condemn an entire profession because of the misconduct of a few. SARS is just a small unit of the Nigerian Police Force, and even among SARS, they are not all bad,” he said
“Yes, some of them might have been quite bad and killed many people, but that should not be used to frame the police in a manner that people feel justified to attack and kill policemen.
“I have seen a video where a policeman was attacked and burnt to death. For what? That policeman is a human being, creation from God, he has children, and he has a family.
“Who will look after them? The Nigerian Police is the only police we have, it Is our collective duty as citizens, as leaders to come together and help the police to be better.”
The meeting had in attendance, the deputy Governor, Hadiza Balarabe, the Minister of Environment, Mohammed Mahmoud and other government officials.
The governor also condemned the recent attack of policemen and police barracks in some parts of the country during the #EndSARS protest which led to the death of some officers.
While admitting that there are some bad officers in the Force that should be fished out, El-Rufai warned on the dangers of attacking officers or tagging the entire force as bad because of the misconduct of a few personnel.
He, however, stressed the need as citizens and leaders to come together and help the police to perform better in securing the lives and property of the people.