Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
A soldier with the Nigerian Army has sent one 16-year-old Ismail Mohammed, #EndBadGovernance, protester to his early grave in Kaduna State.
It was said that the incident happened in the Samaru community area of the state.
The Director of Army Public Relations, Major General Onyeama Nwachukwu, confirmed the ugly incident in a statement, titled “Unfortunate death of a protester by a soldier in Zaria.”
Nwachukwu narrated that the incident happened on Tuesday when troops of the Nigerian Army received a distress call to help disperse some hoodlums, who had gathered in Samaru burning tyres and attacking security personnel.
He added that the mob attempted to attack the troops, which led a soldier to fire a warning shot to scare the hoodlums away, which led to Mohammed’s death.
According to the Army spokesman, the soldier involved has since been arrested and is undergoing interrogation.
The statement read, “On August 6, 2024, troops of the Nigerian Army received a distress call that some hoodlums gathered in Samaru in large numbers, burning tyres on the road and pelting stones at security personnel.
“The troops immediately mobilised and arrived at the scene to disperse the mob and enforce the curfew imposed by the state government.
“On arrival at the scene, the hoodlums brazenly attempted attacking the troops prompting a soldier to fire a warning shot to scare the hoodlums away, which unfortunately led to the death of a 16-year-old boy, Ismail Mohammed. The soldier involved has since been arrested and is undergoing interrogation as of the time of this report.
“Saddened by the unfortunate incident, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Taoreed Abiodun Lagbaja, has sent a high-powered delegation led by the General Officer Commanding 1 Division, Maj Gen Lander Saraso, to visit and condole with the family of the deceased.
“The deceased was buried according to Islamic rites with senior military officers of the Nigerian Army in attendance.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, had said the police, military and other agencies involved in the management of the #EndBadGovernance protest did not use live ammunition during the protests.
Egbetokun disclosed this at a meeting of security agencies heads in Abuja.
He said, “The police and the military and indeed no other security agency involved in the management of this protest have not deployed excessive use of force. Instead, what we had were attacks on security agents during the protest. From our record, there were no shooting incidents by the police.
“The police or military did not use any live ammunition in the management of these protests. Instead, we have had cases where our officers were injured and are in critical condition as we speak.
“I will dismiss that as fake news and very wrong allegations. We didn’t use excessive force at all. We didn’t even deploy the whole of our strength in this protest even when it turned violent. We have water cannons we did not deploy, we have rubber bullets, we didn’t use. All that we have used is teargas and nothing more.”