On Monday morning, personnel from the Nigeria Police Force, who were attached to the Delta State Command, opened fire protesters in Asaba, the state capital.
A video uploaded by the popular blog NigeriaStories on X showed the armed policemen directly firing at the protesters.
The incident occurred just 24 hours after the Nigerian Army reportedly set Okuama community in the Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State ablaze in response to the killing of 16 soldiers during a peace mission by community youths.
Bright Edafe, the spokesman for the state police command, clarified that the police personnel seen in the video were deployed by the command to quell an ongoing protest against a taskforce in the state.
Edafe said:
“They are policemen deployed to quell an ongoing protest against one of the State taskforce in Asaba pls.”
Meanwhile, Netizens reacted:
One X user said:
“Deployed to quell by shooting directly at the people, in a busy area? what kind of quelling is that.”
Another user said:
“And they are shooting directly and not up? Is that OK? Is that how to quell a protest.”
