Amnesty Int’l accuses police of killing 24 protesters in Kano, others

AMID several denials, the Amnesty International (AI), yesterday, accused the Nigeria Police Force of brutally killing 24 protesters during the nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests in August.

In a report titled: “Bloody August: Nigerian Government’s Violent Crackdown on #EndBadGovernance Protests,” the international organisation declared that the police opened live ammunition on citizens in Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Jigawa, Maiduguri and Niger states.

Presenting the report at a press conference in Kano, Country Director, Amnesty International, Nigeria, Isa Sanusi, disclosed that 12 were killed in Kano, three in Maiduguri, three each in Niger and Jigawa, while three other persons died in Katsina and Kaduna after police invasion   He explained that the report, which focused only on eyewitness accounts of police brutality in the six states during the protest against economic hardship, reflected the level of hostility of security agencies and disrespect for the rule of law in Nigeria.

Sanusi lamented: “People in Nigeria witness unbelievably lawlessness as security personnel fired live ammunition at protesters. The death toll could be higher than 24 because of the authorities’ apparent desperate efforts to cover up the atrocities. Peaceful protest over government policies is now a matter of life and death in Nigeria.”

While demanding justice for the victims, AI insisted that the Federal Government must fish out the perpetrators.

“The Nigerian authorities must hold the police and other security agencies to account for unleashing deadly force on people who did not constitute an imminent threat to lives. It is shocking that the police have engaged in flagrant denials of wrongdoing despite public evidence to the contrary.

“President Bola Tinubu and his government must conduct prompt, thorough independent, impartial, transparent and effective investigations into the allegations of human rights violations during the #EndBadGovernance protest and ensure that those suspected to be responsible are identified and brought to justice,” Sanusi added.

Though the Nigeria Police Force has yet to respond to the Amnesty report, on August 3, it denied killing protesters but said seven people had died.

At that time police blamed four deaths on an explosive device planted by suspected Boko Haram militants who infiltrated a crowd. Police said two people were killed after being hit by a car while marching and one man was shot by a local vigilante while trying to loot a shop.