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14.01.2025 Featured RECAP: The Amnesty Int’l Report Upsetting the Police

Published 14th Jan, 2025

By Sodeeq Atanda

On Tuesday, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) demanded an apology from the Nigeria office of Amnesty International over its report detailing the application of excessive force by the police, resulting in the death of 24 #EndBadGovernance protesters between August 1 and 10, 2024.

Due to the government-induced economic hardship arising from the dual removal of fuel subsidy and foreign exchange market deregulation, Nigerians peacefully took to the streets between August 1 and 10 to vent their frustration. FIJ reported many instances of police harassment and intimidation during the protest in many parts of the country.

NPF spokesperson Muyiwa Adejobi wrote on Tuesday that the police was giving the human rights organisation seven days to tender an apology because it had falsely accused its personnel of “human rights violations, police brutality, and excessive violence during the August 2024 End Bad Governance protests”.

READ ALSO: Amnesty Int’l Demands Public Apology From FG for ’24 Killed, 1,200 Arrested’ in #EndBadGovernance Protest

The police authorities intend to initiate a legal action should the group fails to apologise as demanded.

List of people murdered by the police. Source: Amnesty International

The contentious report, titled Bloody August: Nigeria Government’s Violent Crackdown on End Bad Governance Protests, was published on November 18. Then, FIJ reported the findings and recommendations made by the human rights non-profit.

BLOODY AUGUST: HOW EVIDENCE OF 24 DEATH WAS OBTAINED

According to the report, the victims included 20 young persons (three females and 17 males), one older person, and two children who were from Kano, Katsina, and Jigawa States. The group believes the exact figure of murdered protesters was much higher, however.

Other people murdered by the police. Source: Amnesty International.

In obtaining its evidence, physical interviews with eyewitnesses, parents relatives and acquaintances were matched with desk reviews of newspaper reports and accounts provided by rights defenders.

“Amnesty International gathered evidence from videos and photographs, as well as death certificates, accounts from eyewitnesses and victims’ parents, relatives, friends, and acquaintances on the ground, and information collected by human rights defenders, activists and journalists,” the report stated.

“Amnesty International’s investigation found that the Nigeria police killed at least 24 protesters in Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Kaduna, Niger, and Borno states. This reflects widespread nature of the crackdown on #EndBadGovernance protesters.

“The victims recorded include 20 young persons (3 females and 17 males), one older person, and two children. For each of the 24 deaths, Amnesty International has been able to gather credible information indicating the place, the circumstances of the deaths recorded, and their exact or approximate date.”

HOW A SOON-TO-BE-MARRIED WOMAN WAS SHOT

The report also included individual stories of how each victim killed by the police.

Nana-Firdausi Haruna

One of them was a 30-year-old Nana-Firdausi Haruna who stepped out of her house to buy charcoal only to be shot by an unidentified policeman.

“On 3 August 2024, Nana-Firdausi Haruna was cooking meal for the entire family. The fire she was using for the cooking fizzled out. She quickly went to buy more charcoal. After taking few steps out of her family house, she was shot dead in the head by the police. The 30-year-old Firdausi was shot by a policeman in the alley of her neighbourhood,” the report stated.

A single mother of two boys, Firdausi was killed barely a month before her remarriage. Firdausi’s mother showed Amnesty International the bridal accessories bought ahead of the wedding.

“I couldn’t believe it when her dead body with a brutal gunshot was brought back to me here. The Jarumin Maza (referring to the policeman that shot Firdausi), has ended my daughter’s life,” Firdausi’s mother cried.

READ ALSO: NPF Threatens to Sue Amnesty Int’l Over Damning #EndBadGovernance Report

“Now they have killed her and left us in permanent grief, no daughter, no justice! We are helpless and it is only Allah that can revenge for us.”

An eyewitness who told Amnesty International that he witnessed when Firdausi was shot by a policeman said, “I was there when Firdausi fell on the ground. When I saw that, other people and I ran for our lives.

“When the storm was over, we came out from hiding, Firdausi was lying on the ground in blood; we picked her dead body up and took it to her mother at home who wept and repeated ‘Allah-Ya-isa, sun cuce ni’, meaning, ‘Allah is sufficient for me, you [the police] have cheated me, I won’t forgive you.’”

When Amnesty International asked whether the Nigeria police or any other government official had reached out to the family, she replied: “No”, and cried for justice.

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Published 14th Jan, 2025

By Sodeeq Atanda

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