A protestor holds a placard during the End Bad Governance protest in Abuja on August 2, 2024. At least 13 people died during protests over economic hardship in Nigeria on Thursday, according to rights group Amnesty International, which accused security forces of killing peaceful demonstrators. Conflicting accounts emerged on the number of deaths a day after thousands of protesters took to the streets in cities across Nigeria to demonstrate against government policies and the high cost of living. (Photo by Kola Sulaimon / AFP)
Amina Yusuf’s voice broke as she described her five-year-old son’s last moments.
She said Muhammad Sani was standing in the doorway at home in the northern city Kano when police opened fire on protesters taking part in hardship rallies that have rocked Nigeria.
Yusuf said her son was hit by gunfire and bled to death before she could get him to hospital.
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“I will never forgive the policeman who fired the shot that killed my child,” the 37-year-old mother told AFP.
Amnesty International says security forces killed at least 21 demonstrators in a crackdown on a week of protests over government policies and soaring living costs.
Police say seven people have died, but commanders say the police and army were not responsible for any deaths.
As the rallies ease, families are grappling with the loss of loved ones and calling for accountability.
Elsewhere in Kano’s Rijiyar Lemo neighbourhood, Ladidi Umar has been mourning the death of her 22-year-old son Bashir Lawan.
She told AFP he was killed by police gunfire in the crackdown on Saturday.
“Bashir was shot in the leg and he fell. Instead of leaving him, the police also shot him in the abdomen, which was the fatal shot,” the 55-year-old mother said.
“I demand that the policemen who deliberately shot and killed my son be found and made to face the consequences of their actions,” she said. “I want justice.”
Police in Kano have not responded to AFP’s requests for comment.
But they have announced they are investigating whether officers are to blame for deaths in Nigeria’s second largest city, which has seen some of the most intense violence since the rallies began.
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Police say they have arrested hundreds of people on suspicion of “destruction, looting and instigating chaos” in Kano.
Amnesty has accused officers across Nigeria of using live rounds and excessive force, and called for investigations into the conduct of security forces.
In an interview with AFP, Amnesty’s Nigeria director Isa Sanusi said the organisation had confirmed the killing of seven protesters by security forces in Kano’s Kurna and Kofar Nasarawa districts.
He said the nationwide toll represented a “conservative figure” and that Amnesty was investigating more deaths.
Most of those the rights group recorded took place in northern Nigeria.
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As protests quietened elsewhere, hundreds of people took to the streets earlier this week in the poorer north, which has borne the brunt of Nigeria’s worst economic crisis in a generation.
For families already suffering as living costs soar, the loss of relatives is overwhelming. Both mothers AFP spoke to called for the police to pay compensation.
“One of our breadwinners is dead,” Umar said. “He died in the hands of the police and they should pay for his blood.”
Yusuf said “the police have not shown remorse by even coming to offer condolences for my loss.”
She described how affectionate her son was, and how he rarely left his mother’s side.
“I demand justice and compensation,” she said. “I know it will not make up for the loss of my child, but it will lessen the pain.”
© Agence France-Presse
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