Nigerians have reacted with anger after police killed protesters demonstrating over economic hardship in the country.
Demonstrators have been rallying against the government’s removal of subsidies and the devaluation of the naira, which have led to unprecedented inflation and soaring food prices.
Marching under the banner “#EndbadGovernanceinNigeria”, protesters have made other demands that include a reduction in government spending on officials and their offices.
The government’s response has been harsh, with security forces using live rounds and tear gas against unarmed citizens.
Since the protests began on Thursday, at least 20 people have been killed, and many others injured. Among the dead are young people who were simply exercising their right to peaceful assembly.
Videos posted online show police opening fire on protesters on Saturday in Kano with at least 13 people reported killed. People were also killed in Abuja and other cities.
Amnesty International said the government has used disproportionate force including wrong imprisonment.
“Since 1 August, the Nigerian security forces have been violently responding to nationwide peaceful protests against hunger, without any regard for the principles of legality, necessity and proportionality,” the organization said on X, formerly Twitter.
“Clampdown on peaceful hunger protesters goes on, as a mobile court hurriedly sends 109 protesters to prison. This witch hunt is an attack and an attempt to delegitimize peaceful protest. Arbitrary arrests by the police started on Thursday across Sokoto.”
At least 50 protesters were arrested in Abuja on Saturday, according to Amnesty International’s Nigeria office. The Nigerian police reported that nearly 700 protesters have been detained across the country, with nine officers injured during the demonstrations, which are now in their fifth day.
Journalists Targeted
Journalists covering the protests have also been targeted, raising concerns about press freedom in the country. Reports of journalists being harassed, arrested, and beaten have emerged, with many media houses now wary of covering the demonstrations.
Abdulkareem Mojeed, a business and environment journalist with Premium Times, told Pluboard he and other journalists were shot at as they hurried away after seeing hooded security officers suspected to be agents of the State Security Service loading their guns.
He said bullets struck his car and the agents gave chase after they drove off. They security operatives saw clearly they were journalists, Mr Mojeed said.
“It’s obvious that the @PoliceNG & masked @OfficialDSSNG officials deployed to monitor the Abuja protests were asked to kill both journalists & the peaceful demonstrators. How can you be shooting live ammunitions at US? How??? Rattled my car with bullets,” he posted on X.
Since the cost-of-living protests began, there have been at least 31 reported incidents of attacks against journalists, including 11 arrests. These cases have been tracked by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development’s (CJID) press attack tracker, which focuses on West Africa.
“Rather than providing security for journalists … security officials have conducted themselves in a way that suggests they are deliberately attacking journalists,” Adebayo Aare, a project officer on media freedom with CJID told to the Associated Press.
The attacks came days after the country’s defence chief Christopher Musa said the media should not cover the protests, accusing demonstrators of seeking attention.
Outrage Over Attacks
The government’s use of excessive force has sparked outrage and calls for perpetrators to be punished.
Wole Soyinka, Nobel laureate, condemned the use of bullets and tear gas on protesters, calling it an abuse of state power.
“Such short-changing of civic deserving, regrettably, goes to arm the security forces in the exercise of impunity and condemns the nation to a seemingly unbreakable cycle of resentment and reprisals,” he said in a statement on Sunday.
“Live bullets as state response to civic protest – that becomes the core issue. Even tear gas remains questionable in most circumstances, certainly an abuse in situations of clearly peaceful protest.
“The tragic response to the ongoing hunger marches in parts of the nation, and for which notice was served, constitutes a retrogression that takes the nation even further back than the deadly culmination of the watershed ENDSARS protests.” He warned such attacks could lead to reprisals and a revolution.
Former vice president and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, also condemned the attacks.
“I vehemently condemn the heinous act of using live ammunition on citizens peacefully protesting against bad governance, as witnessed today in Kano and Abuja. This is utterly intolerable and reminiscent of the dark days of military dictatorship,” he said in a post on X.
“It is crucial to remind the government and security agencies of their paramount duty to ensure a safe and secure environment where citizens can exercise their right to protest without fear.
“When security forces open fire on innocent protesters, they do nothing but exacerbate tensions, transforming peaceful demonstrations into chaos. I refuse to believe that inciting violence is the intention of our authorities.”
Public anger has grown with the government’s lavish spending on luxury items despite asking citizens to endure economic hardship. While citizens struggle to afford basic necessities, reports of the president purchasing a new aircraft and the vice president acquiring a N21 billion mansion have sparked outrage.
In a nationwide broadcast on Sunday, President Bola Tinubu failed to address the protesters’ demands and gave no commitment he will cut the cost of governance.
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