Tata-ta-ta-tata-ta-ta-! Gunshots rent the air as #EndBadGovernance protesters ran for their lives on Thursday.

In a video posted online, several people were seen fleeing as some armed security personnel opened fire on them.

Then, a body slumped. One of the fleeing protester’s body turned cold.

“Officer, wait, wait, wait!” was the frantic voice that followed.

Another protester, who spoke in Hausa, at the scene said, “They have killed one person in Kaduna.” 

Several people were killed during the first of the nationwide protests amid anguish and concern over soaring food prices and rising cost of living.

Olumuyiwa Adejobi, national spokesperson for the police and Mansir Hassan, spokesperson for the police command in Kaduna, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The Gazette reported that not less than 11 persons were killed on the first day of nationwide protests.

However, the inspector general of police, Kayode Egbetokun, insisted that operatives of the Nigeria Police Force were civil in their handling of the #EndBadGovernance protesters.

Human rights organisation Amnesty International “condemns the killing of peaceful protesters by security personnel across the country.” 

“Our findings, so far, show that security personnel at the locations where lives were lost deliberately used tactics designed to kill while dealing with gatherings of people protesting hunger and deep poverty,” the rights agency said in a statement on Friday.