Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has imposed a 48-hours curfew in Delta State following outbreak of violence in the state capital, Asaba and other cities.
Okowa in a broadcast on Thursday also shutdown schools till November 2.
The curfew begins at 6pm today and will be reviewed after 48 hours.
He stated that the peaceful protests by #ENDSARS protesters had been hijacked by miscreants sand opportunistic elements.
The governor commended the youths for their peaceful conduct, but appealed to them to give peace a chance to enable government address their demands.
He also appealed to parents and guardians to ensure that their children and wards were properly accounted for, and urged traditional rulers and opinion leaders to lend their voices to the appeal.
Okowa urged youth leaders, community mobilisers and social media influencers, to have a rethink on the protest in the interest of the nation.
“I commend our youths for rising to the occasion and organising themselves in such an impressive and spectacular fashion.
“The nation heard your voices loud and clear, and all that now remains is for both the national and sub-national governments to take appropriate remedial measures, which includes embarking on total and comprehensive reform of the Nigerian Police and our governance systems.
“Unfortunately, unlike what we are seeing in the last two weeks, cases of arson, looting and other violent conducts have crept in.
“It does appear that the #ENDSARS protest has been hijacked by some misguided and opportunistic elements. This sad situation threatens to plunge the state into chaos and anarchy.
“It is a clear and present danger that we must stop from happening; only last night, some government buildings were burnt in Asaba”, Okowa said.
He called on the youths to present their leaders for dialogue in order to be part of the process of the judicial panel of enquiry set up to look into the brutalities of the police, particularly the defunct SARS.
“I believe that when they cooperate with the Judicial Panel on cases of brutality and killings are brought to the fore, then and only then, can the government attend to grieving families and also ensure that those policemen who are directly and indirectly involved are brought to book.
“In the meantime, I have ordered the closure of all public and private primary and secondary schools in Delta State until Monday, November 2, 2020.
“And, because of the incident that took place last night, I hereby impose a 48-hour curfew starting from 6 p.m. today October 22, 2020.
“It therefore means that everybody is expected to seat at home except those on very essential service in the next 48 hours starting at 6 p.m. today. Thereafter, we will review the situation and know what next to take”, he added.
