Amnesty International revealed Thursday that Nigerian police killed at least 24 protesters, including two children, and detained more than 1,200 others during August demonstrations against rising living costs, following a months-long investigation into the crackdown.
The human rights organization’s 34-page report, based on eyewitness accounts and interviews with medical workers and victims’ families, documents police firing live rounds at close range, targeting protesters’ heads and torsos across six states: Borno, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa and Niger. Some victims died from tear gas suffocation.
“Even today as we’re launching this report in Kano, many families were coming out to tell us that their children are missing and many are believed to have been killed or be in secret detention,” said Isa Sanusi, Amnesty’s Nigerian country director. “This just goes to show that Nigerian authorities are not ready to accept the fact that the people have the right to peaceful protest.”
The protests, dubbed “Ten Days of Rage,” targeted soaring costs following President Bola Tinubu’s fuel subsidy reforms. Police authorities, who have not responded to Amnesty’s findings, previously denied using live ammunition against demonstrators.
“The lack of accountability, the denial of the killings by the police and other government officials are just signs of the fact that impunity is still reigning in Nigeria and that has to stop,” Sanusi said, noting parallels to the 2020 End SARS protests that ended in deadly police violence at Lagos’s Lekki toll gate.
Nigeria’s Chief of Defense Staff, General Christopher Musa, had addressed security concerns during the protests: “None of us here is happy to hear any Nigerian is injured for whatever reason. It’s our duty to protect Nigerians… but we will not relent in pursuing those that have continued to encourage unconstitutional takeover of government.”
