The police’s claim over non-use of ammunition on protesters took a new dimension, on Wednesday, when the Nigerian Army confirmed that one of its men murdered a teenager in Zaria, Kaduna State.
The #EndBadGovernance protest, which started on a peaceful note later degenerated into violence in different parts of the country.
The first reported incident of killing was in Suleja, Niger State, where at least six protesters were allegedly shot by security operatives trying to restore order.
Next was in Kubwa, Abuja, where a teenager was reportedly gunned down by a policeman.
Similar killings were recorded in Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, Borno, Katsina, among others.
But despite multiple videos of extrajudicial killings, the police denied each and all of them.
Amnesty International had condemned the use of lethal force against protesters.
In a statement, the human rights group said, “Our findings, so far, show that security personnel at the locations where lives were lost deliberately used tactics designed to kill while dealing with gatherings of people protesting hunger and deep poverty.”
President of Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero, also warned the Police and other security forces to stop what he described as “massacre” of protesters.
Ajaero, who also questioned the professionalism of the police high command and its officers being superintended by Kayode Egbetokun. The labour leader said the police officers should divert their energy towards marauding bandits wreaking havocs in the country and be brutal against them rather than innocent Nigerians demanding their rights.
But Muyiwa Adejobi, Force spokesman, had said while there were some instances of killings during the protest, none was by the police.
In a piece titled: ‘The Hunger March As Universal Mandate’, Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, wrote, “Live bullets as state response to civic protest – that becomes the core issue. Even tear gas remains questionable in most circumstances, certainly an abuse in situations of clearly peaceful protest. Hunger marches constitute a universal S.O.S, not peculiar to the Nigerian nation. They belong indeed in a class of their own, never mind the collateral claims emblazoned on posters.”
At a media briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, Egbetokun once again denied the use of live bullets against protesters.
“The police and the military, indeed no other security agency involved in the management of this protest has deployed excessive use of force. Instead, what we had were attacks on security agents during the protest. From our record, there were no shooting incidents by the police. The police or military did not use any live ammunition in the management of these protests. Instead, we have had cases where our officers were injured and are in critical condition as we speak.
“I will dismiss that as fake news and very wrong allegations. We didn’t use excessive force at all. We didn’t even deploy the whole of our strength in this protest even when it turned violent. We have water cannons we did not deploy, we have rubber bullets, we didn’t use. All that we have used in the management of this protest is teargas and nothing more,” he had said.
However, 24 hours later, the army authorities admitted that a solider opened fire on a protester who died in Zaria.
“On 6 August 2024, troops of the Nigerian Army received a distress call that some hoodlums gathered in Samaru in large numbers, burning tires on the road and pelting stones on security personnel. The troops immediately mobilised and arrived at the scene to disperse the mob and enforce the curfew imposed by the State Government.”
“On arrival at the scene, the hoodlums brazenly attempted attacking the troops prompting a soldier to fire a warning shot to scare the hoodlums away, which unfortunately led to the death of a 16 year old boy Ismail Mohammed. The soldier involved has since been arrested and undergoing interrogation as at the time of this report,” Onyema Nwachukwu, Army spokesman, said in a statement.
Amnesty International has called for a judicial commission of inquiry into the deaths of protesters by security forces.
