Nigeria: Nigerian soldiers fire on student protestors

As reported by Truth Nigeria on 23 April 2024, at least three unarmed students protesting on campus at Plateau state university near Jos in central Nigeria were shot dead by soldiers on 19 April 2024.

Ongoing violence in Plateau state perpetrated by Fulani militia was the cause of the protest.  Student groups accuse the security forces of ignoring pleas for help from local villages where their families live, many of whom are Christians. In mid-April, a computer studies student, Dadin James Jordan, was one of five civilians killed in a radical Islamic attack as he defended his family home.  When the  students marched on 19 April to publicly accuse the government security forces of failing to protect civilians, they placed James Jordan’s corpse outside the military checkpoint at the University’s eastern entrance. It is understood a security hut was also set ablaze. 

Naomi Williams of World Watch Research comments: “The military opening fire on students is a breach of their constitutional right to protest. Witness accounts describe the soldiers firing first into the air, and then directly into the crowd of young students. Without a full investigation the families will never know the truth. Meanwhile, the new governor of Plateau state, Gov. Caleb Muftwang, has begun a process of returning displaced villagers to their homes after Fulani militia attacks.  Analysts believe that these efforts to return victims to their homes are causing the Fulani militia to intensify their assaults on the population.”