Police Officer Violates Rights, Shoots Directly At Defenseless Protester In Bauchi

A video making rounds on social media captured how an unidentified police officer, in flagrant violation of rights, shot a defenceless, unarmed #EndBadGovernance protester in Bauchi State.

West Africa Weekly gathered that the video was captured on Monday afternoon in Azare town, where the incident occurred.

In the video, a policeman standing beside a white Hilux belonging to the security operatives was seen moving towards the victim lying on the floor and hitting him twice, after which the officer pointed his gun directly at the victim, pulled the trigger, and walked away.

According to reports, checks on the video showed that it recently went viral by Nigerian citizens in front of the Katagum Local Government secretariat, where police officers and some protesters using the Russian flag clashed.

A resident of Azare, who spoke anonymously, told Daily Trust that the deceased was one of the thugs arrested by the police. Still, this claim could not be independently verified as the police authorities have yet to issue an official statement on the incident.

The Bauchi State government on Monday imposed a 24-hour curfew in the Katagum Local Government Area of the state following the violence that trailed the #EndBadGovernance protests.

Videos showed that protesters, on Monday, set parts of the local government secretariat on fire and vandalised the home of former Deputy Governor Baba Tela.

In a statement released earlier, Amnesty International condemned the use of lethal force against protesters, saying:

Our findings, so far, show that security personnel at the locations where lives were lost deliberately used tactics designed to kill while dealing with gatherings of people protesting hunger and deep poverty.

While this incident adds to the growing number of deaths by security operatives since the protests began, Muyiwa Adejobi, Force spokesman, denied that the casualties recorded were by the police.

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