Ismail Mohammed was killed by a soldier from the Nigerian Army during the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest in Samaru, Zaria, Kaduna State, on August 6, 2024. He was 16 years old.
The Director of Army Public Relations, Major General Onyeama Nwachukwu, confirmed the development in a statement on Tuesday titled “Unfortunate death of a protester by a soldier in Zaria.”
Nwachukwu clarified that the event occurred on Tuesday when Nigerian Army soldiers received a distress call to intervene and disperse a group of hooligans who were gathered in Samaru, setting fire to tyres and attacking security personnel.
Nwachukwu also mentioned that the crowd tried to assault the soldiers, prompting a soldier to fire a warning shot in an attempt to scare the hooligans away, which unfortunately resulted in Mohammed’s death.
The Army spokesperson stated that the soldier responsible has been apprehended and is currently undergoing interrogation.
The statement read, “On August 6, 2024, troops of the Nigerian Army received a distress call that some hoodlums gathered in Samaru in large numbers, burning tyres on the road and pelting stones at security personnel. The troops immediately mobilised and arrived at the scene to disperse the mob and enforce the curfew imposed by the state government.
“On arrival at the scene, the hoodlums brazenly attempted attacking the troops, prompting a soldier to fire a warning shot to scare the hoodlums away, which unfortunately led to the death of a 16-year-old boy, Ismail Mohammed. The soldier involved has since been arrested and is undergoing interrogation as of the time of this report.
“Saddened by the unfortunate incident, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Taoreed Abiodun Lagbaja, has sent a high-powered delegation led by the General Officer Commanding 1 Division, Maj Gen Lander Saraso, to visit and condole with the family of the deceased.
“The deceased was buried according to Islamic rites with senior military officers of the Nigerian Army in attendance.”
On Tuesday, the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, stated that live ammunition was not used by the police, military, and other agencies involved in handling the #EndBadGovernance protest. Egbetokun made this revelation at a gathering of security agency leaders in Abuja.
He said, “The police and the military and indeed no other security agency involved in the management of this protest have not deployed excessive use of force. Instead, what we had were attacks on security agents during the protest. From our record, there were no shooting incidents by the police.
“The police or military did not use any live ammunition in the management of these protests. Instead, we have had cases where our officers were injured and are in critical condition as we speak.
“I will dismiss that as fake news and very wrong allegations. We didn’t use excessive force at all. We didn’t even deploy the whole of our strength in this protest even when it turned violent. We have water cannons we did not deploy. We have rubber bullets we didn’t use. All that we have used is teargas and nothing more.”