Police authorities have defended the use of teargas on people who gathered for the #FreeNnamdiKanu protest around a major route in Abuja on Monday, arguing that the action was to prevent damage to critical infrastructure in the heart of the nation’s capital.

The Force Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, who spoke on Channels Television’s Politics Today, on Monday, said the move was in line with a court order which restricted the protesters from converging around Aso Rock Villa, National Assembly, Force Headquarters, Court of Appeal, Eagle Square and Shehu Shagari Way.

“You see, FCT is very big. You can protest anywhere and your voices will still be heard, it will still be reported by the press,” he told the show host Seun Okinbaloye from Channels Television’s Abuja Studio.

“These are critical infrastuture that needs to be protected and don’t forget that these are places that protests have happened in the past and things were destroyed. We have records of that. So, it is our duty as an agency to protect lives and properties; to ensure law and order.

“So, whatever step – all lawful steps – we need to take to achieve that mandate is what we’ll take and that was what we did.”

Protesters had on Monday converged near Transcorp Hilton and other areas in the Federal Capital Territory for the demonstrations.

But police operatives and other security personnel had arrived early and fire tear gas to disperse the protesters. Security agents were stationed along major routes leading to Aso Rock while there was heavy presence of officers at Eagle Square, Unity Fountain, and the Three Arms Zone.

Access roads to the Federal Secretariat and the Three Arms Zone were also barricaded.