Army offers to deploy in chaotic Lagos amid protests
Security of ports concerns state
Lagos – The Nigerian military has offered to deploy in Lagos state if needed as protests raged, the governor said yesterday.
Unrest has broken out across the state, which is under 24-hour curfew, sparked by anti-police protests and the shooting of civilians by security forces on Tuesday evening.
Governor Babjide SanwoOlu told Arise TV the chief of defence staff and the chief of army staff had called on Wednesday “to say that if indeed I require for the military to come out, they will deploy them ”.
He said the primary concern was the security of key business and government installations, such as Lagos ’ s ports.
It ’ s really just a conversation around security support that we ’ ve got,” he said.
Sanwo-Olu did not say whether he would accept the offer, but called on leaders to keep young people, including protesters, off the streets.
Fires burnt across the commercial capital on Wednesday as protesters still on the streets, mobs and armed police clashed in some neighbourhoods, despite President Muhammadu Buhari ’ s appeal for calm.
Armed police tried to enforce a round-the-clock curfew, setting up checkpoints.
But groups of young men blocked several major roads with overturned traffic signs, branches and rocks.
Video verified by Reuters showed armed police in the Yaba area of Lagos kicking a man as he lay on the ground.
One officer fired into his back and dragged his limp body down the street.
Images taken afterwards showed crowds gathering, smoke from burning tyres and more police officers with guns drawn and pointed.
Rights group Amnesty International said the Nigerian army and police killed at least 12 peaceful protesters at two locations in Lagos – Lekki and Alausa – on Tuesday.
At least 56 people have died across Nigeria since protests began on October 8, with about 38 killed on Tuesday alone, Amnesty said.
A Lagos police spokesperson said via WhatsApp that he wasnot aware of the allegation regarding the man who was kicked and shot, and said there were no killings in Alausa.
Thousands of Nigerians, many driven closer to poverty by the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, have joined the protests that initially focused on a police unit, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad.
The unit which rights groups have long accused of extortion, harassment, torture and murder was disbanded on October 11 but the protests have persisted with calls for more law enforcement reforms.
A shooting on Tuesday night at a toll gate in Lekki, where people had gathered in defiance of the curfew, appeared to mark the worst violence since the protests began and drew international concern.
There is little doubt that thiswas a case of excessiveuse of force, resulting in unlawful killings with live ammunition, by Nigerian armed forces,” UN high commissioner for human rights Michelle Bachelet said on Wednesday.
The AU Commission strongly condemned the violence.
Sanwo-Olu said 30 people were hurt in Tuesday night ’ s shooting. - Reuters