ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – The Nigerian Army, yesterday, admitted that one of its soldiers killed a teenager in Zaria, Kaduna State.
The army in a statement through its spokesperson, Onyema Nwachukwu, confirmed that a soldier killed a teenager in Zaria, Kaduna State, thus admitting that security agencies deployed to monitor the activities of the #EndBadGovernance organisers across the country used live bullets on protesters.
The army’s admission came 24 hours after Egbetokun’s denial. Recall that 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.
The incident in Suleja was followed by another case 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.
Even in the face of these reports and Amnesty International’s condemnation of the use of lethal force against protesters, Egbetokun had insisted that neither the police nor the other security agencies were involved in the use of ammunition to quell violent demonstrations across the country.
While Force spokesman, Muyiwa Adejobi, had said though there were some instances of killings during the protest, none was by the police, at a media briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, Egbetokun once again denied the use of live bullets against protesters.
He said: “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.”
Nwachukwu said: “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.”
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.”
Amnesty International has called for a judicial commission of inquiry into the deaths of protesters by security forces.
