Lagos locked down, army under scrutiny after shots fired at protests
Amnesty says credible evidence that demonstrators were killed • President Buhari appeals for calm over police reforms
LAGOS ( Reuters) – Lagos was under curfew enforced by police roadblocks on Wednesday, the day after witnesses reported soldiers had opened fire on protesters in Nigeria’s biggest city and a rights group said people may have been killed.
The Lagos state governor said 30 people were hurt in the shooting at a toll gate in the Lekki district, a focal point of nearly two weeks of nationwide protests against allegations of systematic police brutality.
The governor said one man had died in hospital from blunt force trauma to the head, although it was unclear if the victim had been a protester.
As President Muhammadu Buhari appealed for “understanding and calm,” Amnesty International said it was investigating “credible but disturbing evidence of excessive use of force occasioning deaths of protesters” at the toll gate.
Four witnesses said soldiers had fired bullets and at least two people had been shot. Two of the witnesses said the lights were turned off at the gate shortly before the shooting
began. One said he saw soldiers remove bodies.
In a Twitter post, the Nigerian Army said no soldiers were at the scene.
Fires burned across Lagos on Wednesday and residents of some districts reported hearing gunfire. Police – some armed, some wearing body armor and many in plain clothes – earlier
set up roadblocks in Lagos, two witnesses said.
Authorities imposed the curfew on Lagos on Tuesday after the governor, Babajide SanwoOlu, said the protests had turned violent.
Thousands of Nigerians have demonstrated in protests that initially focused on a police unit, the Special Anti- Robbery
Squad ( SARS), that rights groups had for years accused of extortion, harassment, torture and murder.
The unit was disbanded earlier this month but the protests have persisted with calls for law enforcement reforms.
President Buhari said on Wednesday he was committed to providing justice for victims of brutality, and that police reforms also demanded by the demonstrators were gathering pace.
His statement did not refer to the shooting at the toll gate, from where a witness saw smoke rising on Wednesday.
“I recognize the buck stops at my table and I will work with the FG [ federal government] to get to the root of this unfortunate incident and stabilize all security operations to protect the lives of our residents,” said Sanwo- Olu , the Lagos governor.
In a broadcast, he urged Buhari to intervene in investigating what happened at Lekki.
Witnesses described being shot at by soldiers. Inyene Akpan, 26, a photographer, said more than 20 soldiers arrive and open fire, and two people being shot.
Witness Akinbosola Ogunsanya said he saw around 10 people being shot, and soldiers removing bodies. Another witness, Chika Dibia, said soldiers hemmed in people as they shot at them.
A Nigerian army spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.
Nigeria sovereign Eurobonds fell more than 2 cents on the dollar on Wednesday.