Four teenagers and a would-be bride were said to have been killed by security agents during the #EndBadGovernance protest in Kano and Zaria.
One Isma’il Muhammad, 18, was also gunned down yesterday by a soldier in Samaru, Zaria, in Kaduna State.
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, his 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.”
She said she left everything to God as the deceased was an orphan and she cannot fight to get justice for him.
The mother of one 15-year-old Kashifu Abdullahi Gyaranya, who was also killed during the protest, Maryam Sani, 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 to get married next week.
One 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.”
Reacting, 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.
He said the law has allowed the police to defend themselves.
He said that the command had launched an investigation into the cases to ascertain what.
The 18-year old boy shot dead in Zaria
The 18-year-old secondary school leaver, Isma’il Muhammad, was said to have been shot dead at about 9am yesterday by a soldier on patrol in Samaru, Zaria.
Samaru community is a host to hundreds of staff and students of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
It was gathered that Muhammad was shot dead at his residence at Sarkin Pawa Street, by a soldier who was on patrol, alongside his colleagues.
The deceased’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 he interacted with the family of the deceased, Saraso said he visited to commiserate with the family and the community over the incident.
He 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.
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.
PRP demands probe of Bauchi incident
The Bauchi State chapter of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) yesterday demanded the probe of Monday’s killing of a protester by a security operative in Azare.
The security operative was reportedly captured gunning down the protester.
The PRP, in a statement by its State Secretary, Abdulazeez Haruna, urged the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the Police Service Commission (PSC) and “other relevant bodies to launch an immediate investigation into this incident and bring those responsible to justice.”
The Bauchi State Police Command’s spokesman, Ahmed Mohammed Wakil, in a statement yesterday, said: “The command emphatically debunks this video and the accompanying news publications.
“These claims are untrue and misleading. No such incident was recorded by the command at the mentioned location or any other part of the state. The video is fabricated, and the public needs to know that the police were not involved in any such incident.”
Wakil said the command had constituted a team of investigators comprising seasoned detectives to aggregate all allegations, suspicions and insinuations from various sources.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Auwal Musa Mohammed, urged media practitioners to maintain their commitment to ethical investigative journalism, seeking the truth and promoting national cohesion and patriotism in Nigeria.
Police begin trial of 800, arrest more over Russian flags
The police have commenced trial of about 800 persons arrested during the #EndBadGovernance protest across the country.
The Force also said the number of suspects arrested in connection with the flying of Russian flags in some states, including Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi and Katsina states, had risen to 90.
Announcing the new arrests yesterday, the Force spokesman, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said the operatives of the force were working relentlessly to arrest those who sponsored the mass-production.
Earlier, the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, disclosed that trial of suspects arrested during the #EndBadGovernance protests had commenced.
He said the suspects arrested in Kano were being tried at the police headquarters because of their large number.
He said: “I want to tell you that the trial of those suspects arrested during protests has begun, about 800 of them. In Kano for example, because we have a large number of arrests, the magistrate moved to the police headquarters and that is where the trial is ongoing right now.”
Kano mobile court remands 632 protesters
A Kano State Mobile Court has ordered the remand of 632 protesters in a correctional centre for allegedly vandalising public and government properties during the nationwide hunger protest in the state.
The defendants are facing seven-count charge bordering on criminal conspiracy, theft, unlawful assembly, trespass, inciting disturbance and mischief by fire.
The court under three Chief Magistrates: Ibrahim Mansur Yola, Abba Muttaka Dandago and Hadiza Rabiu Bello, adjourned the matter to August 19 for the continuation of the hearing.
Earlier, the prosecution counsel, led by State Director Public Prosecution, Salisu Tahir, had alleged that the defendants committed the offence on August 1, trespassing and vandalising government and private properties in the state.
Some of the defendants pleaded guilty; while others pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The Attorney-General of the state, Haruna Isa-Dederi, said the government constituted three mobile courts to prosecute the defendants.
FG puts sponsors on watch list
The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) yesterday said it had placed some Nigerians in the Diaspora, who were the sponsors of the nationwide hunger protest on its watch list.
It said they would be arrested immediately they step their legs on Nigerian soil for the offence and be handed over to the appropriate prosecuting agency.
The Comptroller-General of NIS, Kemi Nandap, disclosed this at the Defence Headquarters, Abuja, after a meeting convened by the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa.
Nandap said: “We have Diaspora sponsors; they are on our watch list. They are watch listed, any attempt they make to come into the country, we’ll be notified and they will be picked up and handed to the appropriate authority.”
The Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Yusuf Bichi, said the agency had uncovered some of the sponsors of the protest, whom he did not name.
Bichi, represented at the meeting by the DSS’ spokesman, Peter Afunanya, said some bank accounts of the sponsors of the protests had been blocked.
According to Afunanya, some of the persons operating such accounts are staying abroad, adding that they are being monitored.
Food prices will come down soon-Customs
Also speaking during the meeting at the Defence headquarters, the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Bashir Adeniyi, asked Nigerians to expect drastic reduction in prices of food items as soon as possible following the suspension of duties and taxes on imported food items.
He said some of the imported food items were already in the country and would be cleared without duties and taxes so as to have price reduction on them.
He said: “Importation takes some time. So one of the things the president has done to cushion the effect of the cost of importation is to suspend customs duties and taxes on imported food items for a period of time”.
IGP Egbetokun, said although tensions had eased in some states following the presidential broadcast, subversive campaigns had emerged in states like Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and Bauchi.
He warned youths to desist from accepting foreign flags from agents of destabilisation, insisting that those who have been arrested would be dealt with accordingly.
“This is not a protest, but an offence of treasonable felony.”
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