By Adewole Kehinde
“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters” – Albert Einstein
On Thursday, 28th November 2024, Amnesty International came up with a 34-page report titled, “BLOODY AUGUST, NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT’S VIOLENT CRACKDOWN ON #ENDBADGOVERNANCE PROTESTS” with a subheading “Nigeria: Police used excessive force to violently quash #Endbadgovernance protests At least 24 protesters killed,”
I recall that between 1-10 August, people took to the streets across Nigeria in peaceful protests against the rising cost of living and endemic corruption.
Calls for the demonstration tagged #EndBadGovernance protest had garnered momentum on social media in the wake of the high cost of living in Nigeria triggered by the twin policies of fuel subsidy removal and the floating of the naira.
Before the protest, on 26 Jul 2024, to be precise, police authorities requested the details of the demonstrators.
The Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, specifically asked all groups planning to participate in the demonstrations to submit their details to the commissioners of police in their respective states.
“We acknowledge the constitutional right of Nigerian citizens to peaceful assembly and protest,” the police boss said.
“However, in the interest of public safety and order, we urge all groups planning to protest to provide necessary details to the Commissioner of Police in the state where the protest is intended to take place.
“To facilitate a successful and incident-free protest, they should please provide the following information: state the proposed protest routes and assembly points, expected duration of the protest, and names and contact details of protest leaders and organisers.”
The IG added that the information expected from the organisers also includes measures to prevent hijacking by criminal elements, as well as key identifiers for possible isolation of potential troublemakers.
Worried by the possibility of the protest being hijacked by criminal elements, the IGP explained that the police authorities needed the necessary information to also identify potential troublemakers.
He reiterated the police’s determination to deploy adequate personnel and resources to ensure public safety, saying the force needs to know the specific routes and areas for the protest to avoid conflicts with other events or activities.
The IGP also released other guidelines to the protesters, among which were for them to “establish clear communication channels with protest leaders to address any concerns or issues that may arise; minimise the risk of violence, property damage, or other criminal activity.
“We encourage all protesters to cooperate with the police, obey the law, and adhere to global best practices for peaceful assembly to guarantee a safe and successful exercise of their rights.”
Like a nightmare, the hunger protest infiltrated most Northern cities. Nobody had the sense that the demonstrators would harm a fly as they started to go to the streets.
They started by singing various protest songs and calling on the government to implement good governance and take action to eradicate the nation’s widespread poverty and suffering. On Wednesday, August 1, 2024, the first day of the demonstration, this was the situation.
However, on the second day of the demonstrations, chaos nearly overtook what was supposed to be a nonviolent demonstration to call the government’s attention to the suffering of Nigerians.
People in Kano State, for example, were pleased to see the demonstrators moving calmly to the Aminu Kano House and making a number of demands to the state’s governor. It was anticipated that they would leave the area without incident. However, that was not to be, as security personnel repelled a few demonstrators who tried to enter the Government House.
The rioters went crazy, apparently angry because the security guards had refused them entry to the Government House. They began by setting a bonfire just in front of the stately government building and began throwing stones and other objects at the security personnel. In response to this challenge, the security personnel retaliated by dispersing the invaders with tear gas.
But infuriated by this, the protesters decided to visit their anger and frustration on any government facility in sight. The first such facility that came under attack was the Industrial Digital Park, a business hub built by the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, at the centre of the ancient city of Kano. It was desecrated and looted bare by the angry mobs. They descended on the multi-million Naira facility with the fury of a hurricane and left it naked like a forlorn grave.
They also ransacked a Kano State High Court premises and carted away vital court documents and exhibits that cannot be reproduced to aid the cases related to those documents.
The irate mob carted away computers, air conditioning units, solar panels and batteries, internet facilities, chairs, and other vital tools they found at the NCC office, while exhibits such as guns, documents, and others were taken away from the Kano court.
The hoodlums also vandalised the oldest printing press in the Northern region of Nigeria, the Kano Printing Press, and other private properties. In many places, the army of protesters looted food items and carted away properties in others, leaving nothing valuable behind. They operated more like locusts and cankerworms, leaving behind a tale of woes for owners of the properties they looted and torched.
Strangely, the demonstrators changed tactics and came out on day four and day five with flags consisting of white, blue, and red, which many claim to be that of Russia. The flags emerged shortly after the nationwide televised address by President Bola Tinubu on Sunday, August 4. The angry youths claimed that the address fell short of their expectations as it did not address any of their demands but merely reaffirmed the government’s position for imposing hardship on them.
The protesters, made up mostly of youths, concentrated their protest around Bakin Zuwo and Koki in Dala Local Government Area, Sharada in Kano Municipal, and Gadon Kaya in Gwale Local Government Area.
The unbecoming behaviour of the protesters promptly forced the government of Kano to slam a 24-hour curfew on the town and later reduced it to 12 hours a day so as to calm down frayed nerves and reduce the level of tension in the town.
Similar to Kano, the protest in Kaduna started quite harmlessly before escalating into a terrifying dimension. When more demonstrators, primarily youngsters, gathered from the Tudun Wada end, chaos erupted at the Government House Kaduna. When security personnel sprayed the demonstrators with water in an attempt to prevent them from occupying or gathering in front of the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, chaos ensued. As a result, the demonstrators were instantly compelled to flee in various directions and suffered minor injuries, which infuriated them. Some of them perished in the process, they said.
On their way back, however, the irate demonstrators stormed two Kaduna State Government offices and fiercely pursued the police officer they said had shot at them and beaten him. Motorcycles stored on the KASTLEA property were stolen, government properties were vandalised, and a lady’s house was attacked. The damage was unimaginable.
The protest took a turn for the worse as miscreants swooped on the Tudun Wada axis, attacked banks in the area, and vandalised government and private properties. As the attacks escalated, the irate youths continued to dare the police operatives, so soldiers were deployed and sanity was restored. The Kaduna State Governor, who attributed the hoisting of Russian flags by the protesters to external influences, had to call for a security meeting where it was decided that a 24-hour curfew be imposed on the Kaduna and Zaria metropolis.
According to Governor Uba Sani: “But unfortunately, during the protest some people bent on fomenting trouble, or thieves, came out and attacked two offices and the house of a lady where they stole. They also tried to fight with the police operatives. What they did, to me, was very unfortunate because when people come out to protest so that things could be rectified, it would not be proper for those who had strived to get things for themselves to fall victim to vandals.”
In Borno, the protest later became violent when some hoodlums started to loot and destroy public and private properties. They also set ablaze a police vehicle stationed in the frontage of the Borno Police Command Headquarters in Maiduguri.
At the same time, four persons were killed at Kime filling station, Bolori Junction, along Baga road of the metropolis, thereby fuelling violent protests. The chairman of the Independent Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Borno State branch, Alhaji Mohammed Kuluwu, confirmed the killing of four persons at Kime filling station.
It was against this backdrop that the Borno State Police Command, in consultation with other security agencies the Borno State Government and its Yobe counterpart, imposed a 24-hour curfew with immediate effect.
It is laughable to say that “Nigerian police killed at least 24 protesters in Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Kaduna, Niger, and Borno states.”.
It is on record that a policeman was murdered while on duty during the #EndBadGovernance nationwide protests on the first day of the protest.
It is all over the internet how policemen were injured by hoodlums who disguised themselves as protesters. Some police stations in the country were razed by rampaging rioters. There were mass uprisings and looting, not protests, as can be seen in Kano, Kaduna, etc.
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“In places like FCT, Kaduna, Kano, and Gombe, among others, we recorded incidents of unprovoked attacks on our security personnel where one policeman has been reported murdered and others seriously injured.
“In light of the current situation, the Nigeria Police Force has placed all units on red alert. Our officers are fully mobilised and prepared to respond swiftly and decisively to public safety and order,” the IGP said.
The #EndBadGovernance protests turned violent in Kano, Borno, Yobe, and Nasarawa states, among the other 32 states of the Federation, as well as the nation’s capital, where rampaging hoodlums burnt vehicles and looted warehouses and private stores.
Policemen were seen dispersing protesters using tear gas, but not a single bullet was fired as insinuated by Amnesty International.
In an orchestrated attempt, some old videos of people shot not even in Nigeria resurfaced on the internet between August 1st and 10th, 2024. The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, came out to make clarifications that the police, military, and other security agencies did not use excessive force on the #EndBadGovernance protesters to have warranted death or killing of any protesters.
Speaking at a meeting of security agency heads in Abuja, the IGP said there were attacks on security operatives deployed to manage the protests.
According to him, the military and police did not use live ammunition during the protests.
“The police and the military, indeed no other security agency involved in the management of this protest, has 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,” Egbetokun said.
“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, and we have rubber bullets we didn’t use. All that we have used in the management of this protest is teargas and nothing more.”
The IGP also dismissed claims that the police were not overstretched by the protests, saying several other criminals were apprehended during the demonstrations.
He explained that other criminal activities were recorded during the protests except for kidnapping.
“We were not overstretched; we had standby units that we didn’t deploy in managing this protest. Even while the protests were going on, a number of them were arrested.
“Hoodlums who committed armed robbery were arrested. The only thing we didn’t have was kidnapping. But any other offence that was committed, we paid due attention to those criminal activities,” Egbetokun said.
On the incident in Kaduna, the police chief noted that no armoured personnel carrier (APC) was hijacked by the protesters in the northwestern state.
“The situation in Kaduna is that we didn’t even deploy APC for the protest. The APC you saw was deployed to the Government House in Kaduna. Protesters went to the gate, and as the driver was driving out, those protesters climbed the APC. And what the driver did was to make a U-turn and go back to the front of the Government House gate. It wasn’t a case of hijacking APC.”
Amnesty International is incredibly biased, amoral, and hypocritical. They simply worry about moral brownie points and have no regard for fairness.
Amnesty International has been described as one of the most dangerous organisations on the planet. They are the worst possible combination of pompous, self-righteous hypocrites. They sit safely afar and criticise both sides of every conflict and often defend the worst terrorists that humanity has ever seen.
In my opinion, Amnesty International is a biased institution. It only protects the human rights of terrorists and criminals. Amnesty International has one way of thinking. It never considers seriously the human rights of the general public.
It should be known that even security forces also have human rights. Are they not also human beings?
Terrorists open fire on security forces. Indiscriminate firing or IED blasts by terrorists or Boko Haram kill numerous innocent people. Don’t they have human rights? They are just performing their obligations.
Amnesty International has never protested or condemned any terrorist attack by terrorists in Nigeria.
Policemen were seriously attacked during the #EndBadGovernance nationwide protests, but Amnesty International has never been seen standing behind these security personnel.
The only group that supports the thugs is Amnesty International. Thus, Amnesty International’s reputation in Nigeria is negatively impacted.
It is unacceptable for Amnesty International to attempt to topple an elected administration by abusing our nation’s democracy.
These clowns, sitting in their comfortable, air-conditioned offices, seldom make even a token effort to verify their sources, even after it becomes clear that their field agents are fabricating information.
So on the bottom line, Amnesty International is worse than useless.
Adewole Kehinde is a public affairs analyst based in Abuja. kennyadewole@gmail.com @kennyadewole
