Hunger protest: Bereaved families mourn

The current protest across the country against hunger has left in its trail loss of lives and destruction of property in many cities and towns, especially in the Northern part of the country. Reports from Kano, Katsina, Borno, Niger and Yobe states revealed a number of protesters were shot dead while attempting to break into […]

The current protest across the country against hunger has left in its trail loss of lives and destruction of property in many cities and towns, especially in the Northern part of the country.

Reports from Kano, Katsina, Borno, Niger and Yobe states revealed a number of protesters were shot dead while attempting to break into shops. Pictures on social media and television show many of the protestors, many of them in their teens, carrying looted goods.

A report by Beacon Consulting, a security research firm in West Africa, revealed that the widespread protest that began on Thursday resulted in the death of at least 20 people.

Beacon said the casualties were recorded in six states, with Niger leading the toll with six deaths, followed by Kano and Borno states with four fatalities each. Kaduna recorded three deaths, Jigawa two and Kebbi one.

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However, the exact number of injured persons remained unknown as the extent of the car-nage was still being assessed.

 

5 confirmed killed in Suleja

Five people were confirmed killed during the hunger protest on Thursday in Suleja town in Niger State. The victims were among the victims of bullets allegedly fired by the police who were stationed around a roundabout behind “A” Police Division, as well as Suleja Police Ar-ea Command.

Our reporter gathered that three of the dead victims lived in the metropolis, while the two others were residents of UTC and Hayin-Nasara areas. The deceased are Yahaya Nda Isa (39), a carpenter; Abubakar Musa, a commercial motorcyclist; an almajiri boy whose name was yet to be ascertained; Abdussalam Shamsudin (23), a mechanic; and Abubakar Yusuf, a commercial motorcyclist.

Six were also confirmed to have been injured from the gunshots. The victims include Sa’adu Ali, Ja’afar Adamu, Bilyaminu Yunusa and Sa’adu Sumaila.

Our reporter who was at the Suleja General Hospital on Saturday gathered that two of them were transferred to the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital in Gwagwalada, while the other two were taken to their home state, Kano.

Speaking to our reporter, a family member of one of the victims, Dauda Rabiu, said that there was an order given to the government-owned hospitals not to treat the victims. He lamented that the only treatment that the victims received there was to stop their bleeding, which alone cost one of them about N26,000.

He said, “All of them left the hospital with the bullets still in their bodies, and as a result one of the victims, Abubakar Yusuf, lost his life on the way to his hometown, Sumaila, in Kano State. 

Speaking on the issue, the DPO of Suleja, CSP Muhammad Shettima, denied knowledge of any loss of life or injury during the incident. He, however, accused the protesters of attempt-ing to invade their division having attacked a sister agency.

 

Victims’ families demand justice

Some witnesses accused the security men of shooting indiscriminately, which resulted in the death of one of the persons. Abubakar Nda Isa lost his younger brother, Yahaya, who he said was not among the protesters.

He said, “Yahaya was not among the protesters. He went to Church Road where he collected some money from his client. He was going back home when a stray bullet hit him on his head. The suspected police that carried the attack was seen by many people moving to-wards the neighbourhood and he equally killed other people apart from my brother.

“My brother left behind a child with a pregnant wife who suffered a shock after learning about the death of her husband.’’

Abubakar called for a thorough investigation of the incident and payment of compensation to the deceased’s families.

Also, Shamsuddin Isiyaku, the father of late Abdussalam, described the 23-year-old as the breadwinner of the family.

He said, “He left to the protest venue along with his friends, while myself along with other ones stood around the expressway, where some other youths blocked the road. Later around 12pm I left the venue to go home. After receiving a call that I should come back, I found my son has been shot dead.

“This is unfortunate because there is no law that prevents citizens from protesting under democracy. I need the matter to be investigated and those found culpable should be pun-ished.”

Malam Adamu Isa, who is the father of Ja’afar, one of the injured persons on admission at a private orthopaedic hospital in Suleja, said the hospital asked them to deposit N500,000 be-fore the bullet in his body would be removed. He said, “I have been struggling for two days now to meet the amount but without success.’’

Efforts to get the response of the Police Area Commander in charge of Suleja, ACP Mu-hammad Sani Musa, were not successful.  

 

Family of 65-year-old man in Kaduna seeks justice

The wife of one of the victims of the Kaduna protest, 45-year-old Aisha Hussaini, has expressed sadness over the killing of her husband, 65-year-old Hussaini Bamalli.

She said the victim had three wives and 11 children who depended on him who lived in a community called Abakpa in Kaduna North LGA.

Speaking to Daily Trust about the incident, Aisha, couldn’t express the pain her family was going through. She said her husband was not part of the protesters; that he only went to visit his sick daugh-ter in the hospital when he was hit.

She said, “We don’t even have food at home; we don’t have money for rent, and he only went out that day to visit one of his daughters admitted at the Yusuf Dantsoho Hospital when he was killed.

“I received a call that day and I ran to the scene where I found his body on the floor. He didn’t have money until he went out to look for food before feeding his children, and now he is no more.”

One of the victims’ late brother’s daughters, Aisha Bamalli, pleaded for justice over the kill-ing of their late father, saying he was the only elder remaining in their family.

She said, “We are begging the government to help us because our late father left behind little children, and without him alive, these children cannot go to school because there will be nobody to help them.

“They hardly eat three meals a day. He didn’t even have a personal house. I’m his late brother’s daughter, and he was the only father I had because each time I had a problem with my husband, he was the person who always settled us. This is why we are calling on the government to intervene and help us.” The Kaduna State police spokesman, ASP Mansir Hassan, could not be reached on phone.

 

Police deny killing of operative in Katsina

In Katsina, one civilian and a policeman were killed, but the police debunked the killing of one of their officers.

Surajo Umar (30), of Kaware village in Kurfi LGA, was said to have died from the gunshot injuries he sustained on Thursday. His younger brother, Zaharaddeen Umar Kaware, told Daily Trust that Umar died in the hospital.

He said the victim, who was just a passer-by and not part of the protest, died on Friday evening and was buried Saturday in his hometown of Kaware.

He said, “The last time I spoke with him was on Thursday when he told me that he was going to Sauki Clinic, Kofar Sauri, to see one of our relatives who was on admission there.

“Unfortunately, not long after that, we heard that he was shot on his waist by the police on Ring Road around Modoji Roundabout.

He added that his late brother, who was a gateman working with one Aminu Bush, the owner of A. A. Bush Filling Station in Katsina, left behind a wife and two children.

Attempts to confirm the incident from the police spokesman in Katsina, ASP Abubakar Sadiq Aliyu, did not yield results.

However, earlier in a statement, the police authorities debunked the killing of one of their personnel during the protest.

In the statement, the CP said the said person seen in a viral video was an operative of the NSCDC who fell out from an operational vehicle and was taken to the hospital, treated and discharged.

 

Bizman killed in Kebbi

A businessman, Sadiq Ahmed, was shot amid the violent protest in Yauri, Kebbi State, on the eve of the nationwide protest against hunger and high cost of commodities in the country.

A family member of the deceased, Usman Abubakar, who spoke to our correspondent, said he was hit by a stray bullet allegedly fired by a policeman while in his shop where he was selling plastics.

He said, “On the day he was killed, he arrived at his shop earlier without any premonition of what was to happen. I recall that he and others around the shop were talking about the pro-test without knowing it would spread to where his shop was located.

“He was a promising young man. Nobody knew the protest would take a dangerous dimen-sion in Yauri and cut his life short.”

 

I encouraged my son to protest, not knowing it’d be his last day – Mum

Maryam Musa, mother of 21-year-old Usman Isma’il Muhammad who was killed in Kano on the first day of the protest against the high cost of living, revealed that she encouraged her son to participate in the demonstration.

In an interview with the BBC Hausa Service, as monitored by our reporter, Mrs Musa dis-closed that her late son had been planning to join the protest for over a month unaware that it would claim his life.

She said, “Before heading out to join the protest, my son carefully selected his outfit – a pair of rarely worn covers which he washed and paired with his blue jeans and a white shirt. As I was leaving the house, I asked him if he would be joining us, and he assured me he would.

“While marching through a street in the Sharada neighbourhood, I called him to check on his progress. He told me he was on his way. I called again, and he confirmed he had already joined the protest. Our final conversation was when he informed me he had arrived at the Danagundi Gate. Little did I know, it would be our last exchange.”

She recounted that they thereafter proceeded to the Kano Government House to submit their grievances to the governor. That on arrival, they encountered security guards who began firing tear gas, lead-ing to a chaos and that amid the mayhem, she became separated from her son.

She further said, “The tear gas was overwhelming, so we all ran away. And the sound of gunshots followed which turned me off. I was disoriented and lost sight of my son. I was lat-er taken home on a motorcycle, unsure of what had become of him.”

 

Premonition of his death

Maryam said, “I had a premonition of my son’s death/killing even before seeing his body. No one told me that Usman had passed away. But when the shooting started, I instinctively knew he was gone. When I got home, his phone rang, and they asked his brother to pick up some clothes for sewing. I knew it was a ruse. I demanded the truth about Usman’s wherea-bouts. They insisted he was just injured, but I knew better.

“When they finally brought his body home, I saw the devastating truth. He had been shot twice – in the back and the shoulder. I was overwhelmed with grief, unable to sleep without medication. The pain of losing my son is unbearable.”

 

 ‘He was family’s breadwinner’

She said, “Usman was our breadwinner. Ironically, we shared a similar educational path. I studied nursing from 2017 to 2019, while Usman completed his diploma in nursing in 2022. Despite our efforts, we both remained unemployed.”

Maryam explained that she decided to introduce Usman to her younger brother, who was a businessman.

She said, “Usman was the second of my six children. His older sister is 23, followed by a 19-year-old sister and a 17-year-old brother. The youngest two are minors, a boy and a girl.

“Usman’s earnings from the market were a lifeline for our family. He supported me, his fa-ther and his father’s three wives. With his father’s political career – local head of a political party – no longer generating a steady income, Usman had taken on the responsibility of caring for us all.

“Just last Wednesday, he received his salary and used it to settle our outstanding debt for food. He had the remaining money with him, but tragically, it was stolen when his body was brought home. All the money was gone.”

 

 ‘The scar will live in me’

“The pain of losing Usman will forever be etched in my heart.”

“I implore the government to intervene in my case and grant me the rights of my son who was taken from me in such a senseless tragedy.”