AT LEAST three protesters were killed in Kaduna State on Thursday as demonstrators in the ongoing nationwide hunger and hardship protests commence across the country against, Reuters quoted eyewitnesses.
One of the protesters claimed police shot two and killed two, while a Reuters witness claimed he saw a lifeless body in front of the Government House in Kaduna State.
Kaduna state police spokesperson, Mansur Hassan, said the police fired tear gas at protesters and not live ammunition. He added that the police would release a report on the incident soon.
Meanwhile four persons were reportedly killed while some sustained injuries on Thursday during the protests in Suleja, Niger State .
The deceased were said to have been killed by stray bullets while the security operatives were struggling to dislodge a group of protesters who mounted a barricade on a section of the Abuja-Kaduna highway.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some security personnel who were around the barricade could not control the youths that had out-numbered them. However, a reinforcement team was sent to the scene where pandemonium occurred in Hassan Dallatu and Church roads in the Suleja area.
DSC Abubakar Muti, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), in Minna, confirmed that some people lost their lives during the protests in Suleja.
“We have confirmed the death of four persons so far, although an unconfirmed report is saying that the death toll has risen to eight, we will still confirm and get back to you,” he said.
Muti said that trouble started when some youth tried to vandalise public properties in the area during the protests, prompting the security agencies to mobilise to defend the facilities.
According to him, the security agencies came out in their numbers, adding, ”right now ,the security agencies had since restored normalcy in the area.”
He enjoined the public to go about their legitimate businesses in the area and report any suspicious activity to the nearest security agency.
Widespread discontent
Protesters demonstrated in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, Lagos, the commercial capital and several other cities to show discontent with economic reforms that have led to rampant inflation and inflicted increasing hardship on ordinary Nigerians.
President Bola Tinubu has vowed to pursue the changes that he says are needed to keep the country afloat.
Authorities deployed armed security personnel in an effort to pre-empt potential violence.
In Lagos, armed police watched as protesters marched toward the Government House in Alausa, Ikeja and then proceeded to two locations that were authorised for the protest.
Some shopping malls in the city were shut and guarded by a heavy police presence.
Civil society organisations have for weeks mobilised online, particularly on social media platforms, to demand the reinstatement of subsidies for petrol and electricity, free primary and secondary education and measures to combat insecurity, among other demands.
In Abuja, the military mounted roadblocks along the highways leading into the city, while some protesters gathered at a stadium.
Youths are protesting in various cities despite heavy security presence and weeklong show of force by security agencies, voicing their frustration at the government and its policies. The protest is billed to last for ten days – August 1-10, 2024.
The federal government had said before the protests commenced Thursday it was open to dialogue, even as it continued to insist that citizens bear with his reforms which President Tinubu said was meant to lay a foundation for sustainable development.
Organisers of the protest argue that politicians are not making enough sacrifices themselves and that the policies are a continuation the neo-liberal agenda of the IMF and World Bank that had undermined growth and engendered poverty of the years.
On the day of his inauguration on May 29, 2023, President Tinubu had unilaterally removed fuel subsidy, devalued the naira and later hiked electricity tariffs, moves that spiked inflation, soaring beyond 34%, eroding incomes.
Consumer inflation rose to a new 28-year high of 34.19% in annual terms in June.
Nigerians are also grappling with widespread insecurity, which has damaged the farming sector, while armed gangs kidnap residents and school children for ransom in the north.
Labour unions have led previous protests. But Thursday’s march was mostly by unemployed youth – introducing a new element for the government trying to lessen the impact of its economic policies.
Tinubu signed a new minimum wage into law on Monday to help workers cope with hardship caused by his economic changes, but many of the country’s 200 million people are either self-employed or do not have jobs.
