Tensions escalated in Minna, Niger State, as police fired shots into the air to disband citizens protesting #EndBadGovernance on Thursday morning.
The demonstrators, fed up and furious with the current state of governance,made attempts to barricade the Tunga-Top Medical to City Gate Road by setting tyres on fire in an attempt to escalate their protest.
However, police officials swiftly responded with support by the army and other security personnel to bar the further breakdown of law and order.
In Suleja local government area, the hardship protest took a violent turn, with at least three youths being fatally shot dead by the police.
The other 15 others, who reportedly sustained varying degrees of bullet wounds, were reportedly in critical condition and have been taken to different health facilities in the area, including Gwagwalada Specialist Hospital, for treatment.
An anonymous source close to Suleja had said that police officials had fired teargas in the area, in an attempt to disperse the protesters but this action angered the youths, who maintained they had no intention of violence.
The youths thereafter, began throwing stones, sticks, and other objects at the police, vandalising a police vehicle attached to the Area Commander’s office (the car had a registration number of NPF 9102C).
Thereafter, the youths followed the police to the Area Commander’s office and attempted to storm the station but were barred by heavily armed officers.
This led to an escalated confrontation in which the police resorted to using live ammunition, killing three youths instantly.
At the time of filing this report at 2:15m on Thursday, August 1, the police have yet to comment on the killings.
The Area Commander had however, reportedly denied knowledge of the deaths until he was taken to a healthcare centre where the victims were confirmed dead.
