Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, has stirred controversy after calling for vandals of public infrastructure to be shot on sight.
Onanuga made the remark on Sunday, February 1, in a post on X, while reacting to a viral video showing extensive damage at an ongoing federal road construction site.
“Just shoot these unconscionable vandals/thieves at sight. They are the worst specie of citizenships,” he wrote.
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The video that prompted the reaction captured men wearing reflective jackets bearing the insignia of the Federal Ministry of Works, explaining how vandals sabotaged construction work along the Ibadan Ilesa Ife federal highway.
In the footage, an official narrated that criminals cut and carted away starter bars, also known as shoulder rods, used in reinforcing the road, even with security operatives stationed at the site.
“So what happens is that, we have some people vandalising these starter bars. You can see that they are pressing in some places but all these vandals, they cut out of it, they remove the ones they could remove,” he said.
“They cut the ones that are very solid and remove the ones they can remove entirely. These are starter bars. This is a very bad thing they are doing. These are vandals and we have security patrols,” the official added.