The bloody violence that erupted after Nigerian soldiers opened gunfire on Shiite protesters on the outskirts of Abuja Monday afternoon left at least 21 members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) dead.
The fresh evidence gathered by Premium Times on Tuesday puts a doubt on the official account by the Nigerian Army which said only three persons were killed.
The IMN members revealed how they evacuated dozens of bodies of their loved fellow Shiites who were killed by a gun truck which the Nigerian Army deployed as part of its response to quell the protest.
The protest march was organised to commemorate the death of a grandson of Prophet Muhammad and further demand the release of the IMN leader who has been kept in custody for nearly three years despite repeated federal court orders for his release.
Shiites evacuated the bodies of their members to the innermost corners of Mararaba-Old Karu, the neighbourhood where the violence broke out, preserving them in blocks of ice in defiance of grave health consequences that could arise from such unscientific and unhealthy practice.
Morning After
An assessment of the scene on Tuesday morning showed the police have managed to secure a 800-metre stretch between Old Karu Bridge and Nyanya Bridge along Abuja-Keffi Highway, scene of the most deadly confrontation between the Nigerian military and members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria since the December 2015 Zaria massacre.
The Nigerian Army admitted responsibility for only three deaths from the incident, which it said came after four soldiers were injured with stones, sharp objects and Molotov cocktails allegedly thrown by protesters.
But members of the Shiite movement said at least 52 of their fellows were killed during the protest, which they said was planned to commemorate the death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of Prophet Muhammad, and also demand the release of Mr El-Zakzaky.
Premium Times confirmed the death of 21 IMN members on Tuesday morning.
El-Zakzaky, who was taken into custody shortly after his compound was raided by soldiers who massacred hundreds of his followers, has remained in the custody of the State Security Service more than two years later — in defiance of court orders that he should be released immediately in 2016.
On Tuesday, a detachment of troops and riot police officers still stood guard under the overhead bridge that was marked as a buffer before the violence erupted on Monday afternoon, flanked by five police vans and a military gun truck which bore the inscriptions of Guard Brigade, an elite unit of the Nigerian Army.
Barely visible just adjacent them was a smouldering passenger vehicle which was tossed into the open drainage for Abuja outbound traffic. Witnesses said its passengers were caught in the fracas, with some of them jumping into a canal just 200 metres from the bridge in an attempt to escape ringing military gunshots.
A parking instructor at a motor park in Nyanya who witnessed the incident near the flyover bridge in Nyanya said the soldiers opened fire on the protesters after they rejected a plea by officers not to cross the military checkpoint by the Old Karu flyover.
Abdullahi Musa, one of the coordinators of the protest, disclosed that her younger sister was found in the canal on Tuesday morning, hours after the family had become worried she might have been killed.
“My sister sustained serious injuries and is now at the hospital, but many people did not make it out of the bridge alive,” the senior Shiite member said. “Many of them were not even Shiites.”
Army reacts
Spokesperson for the Nigerian Army, Texas Chukwu, declined to say whether or not the soldiers evacuated three bodies, or whether the death toll would be reviewed upward in the light of fresh evidence.
Similarly, the Chief Military Spokesperson, John Agim, declined comments on the roles the military played in the havoc during a visit to the Defence Headquarters on Tuesday afternoon.
The killings come two days after a similar confrontation ensued in Zuba, another major suburb of Abuja, and a day before five persons were killed in fresh protest on Tuesday night in downtown Abuja.
At least six protesters were reportedly killed when soldiers opened fire on Shiite protesters Saturday afternoon near the main intersection in Zuba.
The six deaths were identified as: Mikhail Shuaibu, from Dabai; Abdulaziz Maigana, Abu Dujana Ibrahim, from Suleja; Ukasha Isa, from Madalla; Sa’idu Khalil, from Mile 12 and Rabi’u Abdulwahab from Malumfashi.
The attack on Tuesday afternoon reportedly left five Shiite protesters killed. The police said some of their vehicles were set alight by the protesters, adding that at least 400 of them had been arrested as a result.
Gory scene
At the Federal Medical Centre in Keffi, three female and one male IMN members were laying in critical condition.
The head of accident and emergency department, Pius Ameh, said the victims were driven about 35 kilometres to the hospital, arriving at about 10:00 a.m. Tuesday.
The left arm of one female had been crushed by bullets. The second female was totally unconscious of her environment because she had a bullet wound to the brain, and Ameh said a neurologist had not examined her situation.
The male victim also had brain injuries and would require a surgery, the doctor said.
A 21-year-old woman, the youngest amongst the four, was brought to the hospital with a badly damaged right leg.
“We have been told since 7:00 a.m. that some victims of the Shiites and soldiers violence in Abuja on Monday would be brought to our hospital,” Ameh said.
