The protesters were heading towards Government House when a police officer shot one of them in the head. When the victim fell, a commotion ensured which took soldiers deployed to the scene an hour before they could restore normalcy.
The Nigeria police on Saturday shot at over 2000 people in Maiduguri who were protesting negligence and the federal government’s failure to tackle Boko Haram militants.
The demonstrators comprised some lucky residents of Gwoza town in the southern part of Borno State who had escaped when the militants captured their town from Nigeria troops. Fleeing to Maiduguri, they took their protest to the streets with various placards, some of them proclaiming that Nigerian troops had failed to regain Gwoza from the terrorist group.
The protesters were heading towards Government House when a police officer shot one of them in the head. When the victim fell, a commotion ensured which took soldiers deployed to the scene an hour before they could restore normalcy.
Hawa Ibrahim, a Gwoza resident, said, "If it means to die for our people we are ready as you can see one of us was shot by police simply because we're saying they should dislodge Boko Haram militants from Gwoza.”
Also speaking, Muhammad Umar noted that Gwoza has been under siege for the past five days. “For Allah’s sake, do they expect us to keep silent when nothing has been done about,” the teacher queried.
The Borno State Police Command on Saturday responded by banning public demonstrations, citing the security situation in the state, which is under emergency rule.
Police spokesman Gideon Jubrin said in a press statement that such demonstrations were capable of causing disharmony, anarchy and pandemonium in Borno State.