Crackdown by security operatives led to the death of some protesters in the on-going march against the removal of fuel subsidy. Many were also injured, receiving medical treatment in hospitals in Kano, Lagos, Edo, Kaduna and Oyo states as a result of the clampdown on them by the police. Who are they?
When on 3rd January Muhydeen Mustafa Opobiyi, 23, woke up at his parents’ residence of Oke-odo, Agbaji Area in Ilorin, little did he know that the morning prayer he offered at Ali Agan mosque, a stone throw to his home, would be his last on the surface of the earth. The young man who just completed his secondary education at Command Day Secondary School, Maitama Abuja had returned to his Ilorin home in June 2011 to obtain a three month computer education before furthering his education. Muhydeen had dreamt of becoming a soldier and was torn between his ambition of obtaining the admission form of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) and his family’s persuasion to obtain the JAMB form instead. But no one knew that none of these would be realized.
Though he had the ambition of defending his country, he ended by giving his life during the protest to defend the right of the Nigerian poor by the ‘Occupy Nigeria’ protesters. But how exactly did he die? Was he a protester or a by-stander? These and many other questions have formed the basis of the controversy over his death, especially between the police, NLC officials and his family.
The Kwara State police command in its own statement said Muhydeen was killed by fellow protesters by stabbing, adding that those found on the street of Ilorin that fateful day were hoodlums hiding under the guise of protesters against subsidy removal to commit lots of atrocities and inflict harm on people. According to the Commissioner of Police, the hoodlums were armed with machetes, locally made guns and other dangerous weapons, which he said were used to cause havoc. But the immediate past chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the state, Comrade Emmanuel Ayeoribe, refuted the claim of the CP saying that the police killed Muhydeen Mustapha Opobiyi unjustly. Comrade Ayeoribe said the NLC would immortalize the 23-year-old man. Alhaji Mustapha Oke-Odo, father of the deceased said that he has accepted it as the will of God and that he wants the police to identify the cops who killed his son and bring them to justice.
In Kano State, six people have so far been confirmed dead during the protest while several others are in the hospitals mostly in critical conditions. Among those killed as a result of gunshots from the police are a graduate from Sa’adatu Rimi College of Education Suleiman Buba, aged 23 and an almajiri Bashir Ahmad, also 23. The two victims are from Hotoro in Tarauni Local Government Council. A victim who was declared death yesterday at Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital in Kano, Sagir Gwammaja was not among the protesters, witnesses say. He was just on an errand when a bullet hit him and he bled to dead.
Suleiman’s mother, Malama Dada Buba said only God would judge between her son and the police. She said Suleiman just had his breakfast on that fateful day and left, saying he did not tell her he was going for the protest. Like Suleiman, Bashir Yusuf a 23-year-old almajiri who was studying under one Malam Yunusa in Hotoro died on Monday from police gunshot. His teacher, Malam Yunus, while narrating the incident said they were about to say the afternoon prayers around 4pm when some people came to tell him that his pupil was shot by the police and was carried to the hospital. “We quickly rushed to the hospital to see him but on reaching there we were told he has already died,” he said.
Meanwhile, Shadhili Ahmad who was shot on his back at Lodge Road while running away from police attack on Monday is receiving treatment at the Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital. He said the bullet was removed from his body and he is getting better. Another victim, Hamisu Hudu, said, “I was standing by the side of the Kurna Mosque when I saw some of the protesters putting leaves on the police van that was passing in the morning. The police just passed them without comment but when they returned from their destination they parked the van and came out and suddenly, they started shooting sporadically. As we began to run with my friend, the late Sagir that died, the bullet hit me on the leg and he was shot on his buttock and leg. He bled and died late in the night yesterday.
20-year-old Abdulgafar Mohammed, a student, was shot on his head on Tuesday by policemen while trying to disperse hundreds of anti-fuel subsidy protesters that trooped to Kaduna Polytechnic Road near the Kaduna State Government House. Lying on his hospital bed at the 44-Army Reference hospital, he has been unable to speak for four days. His mother, Fatima Mohammed said though her son has been responding to treatment, he could not talk. “Up till now he cannot talk, he only nods his head whenever we are talking to him,” she said.
Abdulgafar lies on his hospital bed with swollen eyes and mouth. Giving further insight on the condition of the boy his father, Mohammed Bako Hadiz said the x-ray of the boy’s head showed that he has a crack in his head. He said: “My son was hit by a stray bullet of the police according to those who witness it. He was not carrying any placard because he was not protesting; he was running an errand when he was shot at close range by a policeman; even a soldier attested to the fact that it was a gunshot and not a teargas canister that hit my son as is being speculated.”
An eye witness, Abubakar Aliyu said the boy was shot by a detachment of policemen from the metro police station in Panteka. “While the soldiers were calming the protesters near the government house,” he said, “the policemen came and started throwing tear gas and afterwards, they started shooting live bullets. One of their bullets hit the young boy on his head.” When contacted on phone, the spokesperson of the Kaduna State police command, DSP Aminu Lawan denied reports that the boy was shot by a policeman, saying there was nothing like that.
While the police in Kaduna are denying any complicity in the shooting of Abdulgafar, 16-year-old Anas Gambo in Kogi State was alleged to have been shot by a trigger happy policeman, eyewitnesses said. Shot on the fourth day of the protest, a bullet hit Anas on his way to the mosque at Madabo for the noon prayers. Now left to mourn his death, his family said they should have simply told him to stay home. Anas is an orphan who lost his mother some few years back and father late last year.
The subsidy protest which started on Monday has been very peaceful in the state until on Thursday when the police allegedly invaded Kabawa area of the state shooting tear gas and live bullets sporadically, assaulting anyone found on the street in an attempt to stop people from protesting. Narrating the ordeal they passed through to Weekly Trust amidst tears, Anas’ guardian, Muhammed Alhassan said the area was like a war zone with the sound of gunshots from the police. “Anas was killed inside Madabo Mosque while preparing for prayer,” he said. “We normally observe zuhr prayer by 12 pm. So he went to mosque to perform ablution before the police snuffed the life out of him. He did not even join the protest; once it is 12 pm, he is always at the mosque waiting for prayer.”
Muhammed said, “When late Anas heard the sound of bullets that were hitting the wall and roof, he stood up from where he was sitting in front of the mosque to run inside in order to avoid being hit by bullet. As he was entering the mosque, the police fired at him and despite the bullet wound he sustained he still managed to run into the mosque. But the police still followed him inside and fired at him again. The police after killing him dragged him on the ground to where they parked their vehicle and took his body away.”
Though his death was as a result of the ‘Occupy Nigeria’ protest in Abeokuta, Ogun State, it was reported that a local musician, Raheem Mojeed, who is popularly known as Apampa died as a result of the machete cut he allegedly received from a notorious political thug identified as Lawrence, popularly known as “De law.” Eyewitnesses said that Lawrence grew angry and attacked Mojeed when the latter prevented him and his fellow thugs from driving past a barricade mounted at Jaleyemi junction during the protest. In the fracas that ensued, Mojeed had sustained injury owing to deep machete cut he received from Lawrence. He was rushed to Our Lady of Fatima Hospital where he was treated but he later died.
Miscreants under the guise of activists and students took over the Ibafo/Mowe axis of the expressway to harass motorists and commuters plying the road. Those mostly affected were residents travelling within the city. When the police came to restore order in the area, two people were killed in the showdown, eyewitnesses said. One of the victims, simply indentified as Kaula, was alleged to have been hit by police bullet during the cross fire. Kaula who trades in Deisel at the Kara market at Ibafo trailer park died at a private hospital where he was rushed to after the incident at about 4.00pm. The victim, it was gathered, was shot in the upper and lower chest, while the details of the second victim’s death was yet to be known as at the time of filing this report.
The state police commissioner, Nickolas Nkemdeme said he escaped being lynched by the hoodlums while two of his men were injured in the fracas. He added that the hoodlums had earlier in the day prevented the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in charge of the South West from traveling to Abeokuta where he was coming to monitor the situation.
The atmosphere surrounding No 6, Akinritan Street, Ogba, Lagos, is mournful looking. This is the residence of Ademola Aderintan, the 26-year-old who was said to have been gunned down by a trigger happy policeman on Monday January 9, 2012. Ademola alongside three of his friends became victims of police brutality on the first day of the strike action. But while Idara, Samuel Ebujoi and Abubakiri Alimi managed to survive the gory experience, Ademola would not live to tell the tale. The quartet was standing by, getting prepared to participate in an on-going football game when their assailants came calling.
Ademola, alongside Ebujoi, Alimi and Idara who were said to be standing on the sideline were hit by stray bullets emanating from the shots fired by Superintendent of Police, Segun Olubunmi who is also the Divisional Police Officer, Agege police station. “We did absolutely nothing to them. They came in their patrol vehicle and without any question of any sort, they started firing at us. The four of us, Alimi, Idara, Ademola who has just died and I were standing at the sideline at the time, waiting for our turn to participate in the on-going football game,” said Samuel Ebujoi on his hospital bed. “But when the police came and started shooting, we all tried to run away, but the police officer Segun came on our heel and shot us.” All of the victims sustained gunshot wounds on their legs.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) say they have commenced a legal process that would make President Goodluck Jonathan and the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Hafiz Ringim, liable for the death of Nigerians killed by the police during the nationwide pro-subsidy protests. “This mindless killing of unarmed Nigerians on a peaceful protest is strongly condemned,” NLC’s head of information unit, Chris Uyot, said in a statement. “The Inspector General of Police and President Jonathan will be held responsible for these senseless deaths. We have started the process with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to bring these culprits to book.”
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