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Nigerian police said at least five people were killed Thursday as nationwide economic protests turned violent in some major cities, while rights group Amnesty International said 13 protesters were killed by security forces.
In a statement posted on social media platform X, Nigeria’s Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, said “thugs” had incited “massive uprisings” under the guise of protests in several major cities, looting and damaging businesses and government buildings, including police stations.
Egbetokun said the cities of Kano, Borno, Yobe, Kaduna, Gombe, Bauchi, Abuja, Niger and Jigawa had been damaged. He said security personnel in Kaduna, Kano and Gombe had been attacked unprovoked and said a policeman had been killed, but he did not provide details.
The inspector general also said a bomb exploded among a group of protesters in Borno state on Thursday, killing four people and injuring at least 34 others.
He said all elements of the Nigeria Police Force were on alert, adding that they would be assisted by the military “if required”.
The Associated Press, citing Nigerian police, reported that more than 300 people were arrested on Thursday.
Amnesty International Nigeria posted on its X account that security personnel fired live ammunition at peaceful protesters during demonstrations, killing six people in Suleja, Niger State, four in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, and three in Kaduna.
Thousands of people took to the streets of Nigeria’s major cities for anti-government demonstrations to protest economic woes and long-standing systemic problems such as corruption and press freedom. Organizers said they were inspired by recent anti-government protests in Kenya, which forced the country’s president to cancel proposed tax increases and disband the cabinet.
The protests are expected to last 10 days, and were reportedly continuing in several cities on Friday.
On Thursday, police used tear gas to disperse crowds in the capital, Abuja, and the country’s second-largest city, Kano, where demonstrators tried to set fires outside government buildings.
Under tight security in the commercial capital of Lagos, protesters marched toward government buildings, ringing bells, chanting slogans and holding placards denouncing corruption and Nigeria’s green and white flag. Armed security personnel led them along the streets.
Many Nigerians blame the cost of living crisis on reforms introduced last year by President Bola Tinubu, who scrapped popular fuel subsidies and took steps to devalue the naira.
The protests came after lawmakers voted last week to more than double the monthly minimum wage for federal workers from 30,000 naira to 70,000 naira, or about $43. The president signed the bill earlier this week, but the legislation did little to dampen calls for nationwide demonstrations.
Religious leaders and other social groups have tried to prevent the protests because they fear they could turn violent, as protests in Kenya did. Human Rights Watch has warned that Nigeria’s government rhetoric ahead of the protests has raised concerns about a violent crackdown.
Last week, Inspector General Egbetokun warned that “some groups claiming to be reformers and influencers have been planning and mobilizing potential protesters to wage terror campaigns in the country in the name of replicating the recent protests in Kenya… We must ensure that these protests do not turn violent or chaotic.”
Some of the information for this report was provided by the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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