- Lagos protesters declare three-day mourning
As protests continues in some parts of Nigeria, the Nigeria Army has confirmed the killing of a a 16-year-old #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protester, Ismail Mohammed in the Samaru community in Zaria, Kaduna State by a soldier.
This is even as the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria Organising Committee, Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park, Ojota, Lagos State, has declared three days of mourning in honour of those killed across the country during the ongoing #EndBadGovernance protest.
Isma’il, a 16-year-old secondary school leaver, was reportedly shot at about 9am yesterday by a soldier on patrol in Samaru, Zaria at his residence at Sarkin Pawa Street.
Samaru community is a host to hundreds of staff and students of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Isma’il’s mother, Zainab Sani, said he was playing with his friends and a brother in front of their house, “but when they sighted the soldiers coming towards their direction with one of them pointing his gun at them, they ran into their house and shut the gate.
She demanded that the soldier be brought to justice.
The GOC 1 Division, Major General M.L.D. Saraso, visited the residence of the deceased and met with the bereaved family.
Addressing youths in the area after meeting with the family of the deceased, Saraso who said he had come to commiserate with the family and the community over the incident, assured that the incident would be thoroughly investigated, asking any community member with substantive evidence to forward for necessary action.
General Saraso described the incident as “unfortunate”, and urged the community to live in peace and always be law-abiding.
Not less than four teenagers and a would-be bride were said to have been killed by security agents during the #EndBadGovernance protest in Kano and Zaria yesterday.
After her car windscreen was broken yesterday by policemen while waiting on a queue in front of a filling station in Abuja, Sheila Ibrahim, a staff member of WARDC told Law & Society that: “Being a victim of protest violence today, I would say that 90% of the violence is caused in the uniform men. Although, am not in support of the strange flag that is been carried around, innocent people are usually the victim of violence in a situation like this.”
Joe Ajaero, President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC )adds: “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.”
The protest, which started on Thursday, August 1, has resulted in the killing of many protesters allegedly by security operatives.
The Kano incidents happened at Kofar Nassarawa, Kurnar Asabe and Rjiyar Lemo. One of the victims, Abdulkadir Labaran Babah Alfindiki, was allegedly killed at Kofar Nassarawa.
Speaking to the Daily Trust, Abdulkadir’s mother, Aisha Isah Babah, said: “He left home for his business place. Worried that he didn’t come for his launch, I became uncomfortable. I did not call him nor did I talk to anybody about my worries. Little did I know that he was killed.”
Aisha Babah said she has left everything to God particularly since the deceased was an orphan and she cannot fight to get justice for him.
Likewise, Maryam Sani, the mother of 15-year-old Kashifu Abdullahi Gyaranya, who was also killed during the protest, said: “As he was leaving home, I asked him where he was going to, but he told me that he was going outside to see his friends. I warned him not to join the protest. He said he would not. Only for me to be called and informed that he was killed. And that is all.”
A bride to-be, Firdausi Muhammad, was reportedly killed by a stray bullet, allegedly from the rifle of a policeman in Rijiyar Lemo, during the protest on Saturday. She was preparing to get married next week.
Umar Abubakar Hausawa was also said to have been killed by a police stray bullet during the protest at Kofar Nassarawa the same day.
His brother, Rabiu Abubakar, said: “When he was told that our younger brothers had joined the protesters, he was angry and told our mother that he was going to call them back. That was how he went and met his untimely death there.”
Speaking about the deaths, the Police Public Relations Officer, SP Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa said that the police tried to maintain law and order in Rijiyar Lemo as the youths of the area tried to overpowered them.
“Actually, what happened was you know the Kano State Government has imposed curfew in the state so the youths who were in their hundreds tried to trespass into people’s shops to steal their goods. So, our men tried to disperse them but instead of them to go back to their houses they turned violent, and started throwing stones at our personnel”.
He said that the situation warranted the reinforcement of the more personnel in order to maintain law and order.
The Police Spokesman stressed that the law has allowed the police to defend themselves adding that the command has launched an investigation into the cases to ascertain what.
CSOs want security agents involved in protesters’ killing prosecuted
A coalition of 13 civil society organisations (CSOs) yesterday urged the federal government to prosecute security personnel found culpable in killing of peaceful demonstrators during the hunger protests across the country.
The CSOs made the demand in a joint statement.
The 13 CSOs are Accountability Lab Nigeria, BudgIT Foundation, Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), Enough is Enough (EiE) Nigeria, #FixPolitics, Global Rights, Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC), Sesor Empowerment Foundation, TechHer, Women Advocate Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), and Yiaga Africa.
The CSOs said failure to prosecute the security agents involved in the killing of protesters would send a bad signal on President Bola Tinubu’s message on dialogue.
They said the president failed to acknowledge that the security forces’ response to protesters had resulted in the extra-judicial killing of several protesters, and equally missed the opportunity to assure the nation that their perpetrators would be held accountable.
They said: “The president has expressed the government’s openness to dialogue with protesters on these demands. It is therefore our candid advice that this is pursued by officials and representatives of both sides with sincerity of purpose.
“This should begin with an immediate release of all arrested peaceful protesters and sanctions against security agents who attacked unharmed peaceful protesters. We remind the government that should security forces continue to aggravate protesters, it may become difficult to broker dialogue.
“It is our recommendation that representatives of the National Peace Committee and reputable civil society groups serve as facilitators and observers of this dialogue process and its outcomes”, they said.
Below is a statement by the Army on the death of 16-year-old Isma’il in Zaria.
UNFORTUNATE DEATH OF A PROTESTER BY A SOLDIER 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.
Saddened by the unfortunate incident, the Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Taoreed Abiodun Lagbaja has sent a high-powered delegation led by the General Officer Commanding 1 Division Maj Gen Lander Saraso to visit and condole with the family of the deceased.
The deceased was buried according to islamic rites with senior military officers of the Nigerian Army in attendance.
ONYEMA NWACHUKWU
Major General
Director Army Public Relations
6 August 2024
Lagos protesters mourn
After a closed-door organisers’ meeting on Tuesday, the organising committee, issued a statement jointly signed by Hassan Soweto, Ayoyinka Oni and Oloye Adeniji to declare the three days of mourning scheduled to commence on Wednesday, August 7, with an X Space and end on Friday, August 9, 2024, with a public symposium and candlelight procession.
The committee urged all Nigerians and youths who support the struggle against hunger and hardship to do everything they can on a personal level to observe these three days of mourning, which may include wearing black attires as they go out, putting up graphics of the movement on their social media profiles, as well as other individual acts to show solidarity with our fallen heroes.
The statement read, “We also encourage them to join collective actions, such as the X Space happening tomorrow, as well as the public symposium and candlelight procession on Friday, which will mark a grand finale.
“Our decision to take this course of action is motivated by two things: first, the Lagos State Government and the Commissioner of Police have made it clear over the course of the past five days that despite assurances to the contrary, they are not in any way prepared to guarantee the right of peaceful protesters to assemble freely without molestation.
“This explains why, at any slight opportunity, the police at Ojota, as well as at Alausa, have surreptitiously allowed state-sponsored thugs to attack our members and injure them. This happened yet again on Monday, 5 August 2024, as the protest closed officially when a band of thugs armed with various weapons descended on peaceful protesters under the watchful eyes of the police.
“The same thing happened earlier in the day at Alausa, Ikeja. In both incidents, not only did the police not stop the thugs, but police officers also actually participated actively in dispossessing our attacked members of their mobile phones and valuables.”
According to the organising committee, this was only the latest in a permanent cycle of low-scale yet scary violent attacks against protesters once a little chance presents itself.
“In fact, given how persistent the attacks have been, we have no choice but to believe that the police and the thugs are working together to muzzle our voices. This has made Ojota unsafe for peaceful protesters hence our decision to re-strategise and consider other forms of engagement to keep our struggle alive until day 10.
“We hereby condemn these unprovoked attacks on peaceful protesters and law-abiding Nigerians. We demand a public apology from the police as well as the return of all mobile phones and other valuables stolen from our people by the same police meant to protect them.
“The second reason we have taken this course of action is that we have seen quite clearly that President Tinubu is on a mission to divide this country and set it aflame just so that he can continue to keep himself and the corrupt privileged clique around him in power.
“This explains the heavy-handed and disproportionate killings of protesters in the North and other parts of the country. At least over 40 protesters, mostly our Northern brothers and sisters, have been killed while hundreds have been arrested and detained over the course of the past few days,” the statement added.
It stated that the organising committee is demanding the immediate and unconditional release of the National Coordinator of the Youth Rights Campaign, Adaramoye Michael Lenin, Babatunde Oluajo and other protesters arrested across the country.
“We stand opposed to the senseless killings of our brothers and sisters for daring to protest hunger and hardship. These three days of mourning are to demonstrate that we shall continue to stand with our siblings from all parts of the country in this dark hour, and together with them, we shall fight for justice for those who have been killed and for an end to all forms of bad governance in this country.
“To this extent, we demand the immediate sack of the Inspector General of Police and the setting up of a democratically constituted public probe into the killings, wanton destruction and violence in various parts of the country during the course of the protest.
“Even in war, warring parties have a right to mourn and bury their dead. We, therefore, ask the Commissioner of Police in Lagos state to respect our rights as citizens to mourn our dead even as we continue to demand answers from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over our various demands, which remain unmet today.
“Finally, we hold that any group of protesters have the right to continue to engage peacefully on the street to drive home the demands of our collective struggle,” the statement added.
