Manchester United football player Odion Ighalo said he was ashamed of the Nigerian government after reports revealed that infantrymen had shot dead protesters after shooting at them on Tuesday in lekki district of the advertising capital Lagos.
Nigerians have been protesting for nearly two weeks opposing the now-dissolved police unit, the Special Anti-Theft Squadron (SARS), which human rights teams have been accusing for years of extortion, harassment, torture and murder.
The unit disbanded on October 11, but protests persisted.
In a message on Twitter, the Nigerian army said they were not at the site of the shooting.
Nigerian Ighalo said in a video message on Twitter that while he rarely spoke of politics, he may remain silent about the occasions in his country.
– Odion Jude Ighalo (@ighalojude) October 20, 2020
“Is the Nigerian government a disgrace to the world for killing its own citizens, sending infantrymen to the streets to kill unarmed protesters because they are protesting for their own rights?He’s on demand,” he said.
“You will go back in history as the first passing government to send a corps of army workers to the city to start killing its own citizens. I’m ashamed of this approved government, we’re tired of you, and we can’t take this anymore. “
Ighalo called on the UK government and world leaders to “see what’s going on in Nigeria and us. “
“They will continue to kill if the world does not communicate about it,” he added.
Four witnesses told reuters news firm that they had fired on protesters who had accumulated in Lekki, defying an indefinite curfew imposed hours earlier.
Hundreds of other people were at the time of the shooting.
One witness said more than 20 arrived at the Lekki toll road and opened fire.
Another witness also told Reuters that he saw the bodies removed.
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu tweeted photos of him visiting others at the hospital who suffered from what he described as an “unfortunate shooting in Lekki. “
He said 25 other people were being treated for mild to moderate injuries, two were receiving intensive care and three had been released.
Human rights organization Amnesty International said it had obtained “credible but disturbing evidence of excessive use of force that resulted in the deaths of protesters at the Lekki toll in Lagos,” adding that it investigates “the killings. “
The images posted online showed several hundred more people demonstrating in defiance of the curfew imposed hours earlier.
For more than two weeks, Nigeria has been rocked by protests through many other young people who oppose police brutality.
A permanent curfew comes into force in Nigeria’s largest city when police deploy police across the country.
SarS abuses are the ethical failure of the formula that has set in motion Nigeria’s corrupt ruling elite.
© 2020 Al Jazeera Media Network