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| Security Operative Captured Shooting Protester |
On Monday, a security operative was captured on video shooting a protester in Azare, Katagum Local Government Area of Bauchi State.
The unidentified protester was pinned to the ground and tortured by several individuals.
In a video obtained by Daily Trust, the young man is seen lying on the ground as two or three people repeatedly hit him.
Shortly after, an officer standing beside a white Toyota Hilux van belonging to security operatives approached. After hitting the protester twice, the officer pointed his rifle directly at the victim and pulled the trigger.
The crowd at the scene yelled as the officer walked away without looking back.
Daily Trust's fact-checking team confirmed that the video was authentic and not doctored.
Investigations revealed that the incident occurred in front of the Katagum Local Government secretariat, where clashes between police and protesters using Russian flags took place.
A resident of Azare, who wished to remain anonymous, told Daily Trust that the deceased was one of the hoodlums arrested by the police, but this claim could not be independently verified at the time of reporting.
As of the time of filing this report, SP Ahmed Wakil, spokesman for the Bauchi Police Command, had not responded to Daily Trust’s inquiry about the daylight killing.
Efforts to get a reaction from the Bauchi State Government were also unsuccessful, as the spokesman for the Bauchi State Governor, Mukhtar Gidado, did not answer calls or respond to messages.
Since the #EndBadGovernance protest began on Thursday, multiple videos of alleged extrajudicial killings by the police have surfaced, but the police have denied all such claims.
Amnesty International 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.”
However, Muyiwa Adejobi, the Force spokesman, stated that while there were instances of killings during the protest, none were carried out by the police.
Following widespread killings in Kano over the weekend, Amnesty International called on Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf to establish a Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the fatal shooting of protesters.
The agency reported that at least 10 protesters were fatally shot in Kurna and Kofar Nasarawa in Kano.
President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero, also urged the police and other security forces to stop what he described as the “massacre” of protesters.
Ajaero questioned the professionalism of the police high command and its officers under Kayode Egbetokun, stating that the police, as the lead agency in managing internal security, bear the responsibility for the massacre.
The labour leader suggested that police officers should focus their efforts on combating bandits wreaking havoc in the country rather than targeting innocent Nigerians demanding their rights.
“With unconfirmed reports putting casualties at over 40 in two days of managing the EndHunger protest across the country, we have sufficient reasons (backed up by reports and video clips) to question the professionalism of our security personnel as this represents nothing but a massacre of citizens.
“Had the security personnel deployed the same thoughtless brutal precision against bandits or other criminals, our country would have been an eldorado. As the lead agency in internal security management, the police bear the burden of this massacre,” he said in a statement.
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.”
