Nigerian Forces Imposing Virus Controls Kill 18, ThisDay Says

(Bloomberg) --

Security personnel in Nigeria have killed at least 18 people enforcing restrictions introduced to slow the spread of coronavirus, ThisDay reported, citing a report by the National Human Rights Commission.

“Whereas Covid-19 has led to the death of about 11 patients to date, law-enforcement agents have extra-judicially executed 18 persons to enforce the regulations,” the Lagos-based newspaper said, citing NHRC Executive Secretary Tony Ojukwu. The Nigerian prison service and police force were responsible for 15 of the killings that happened between March 30 and April 13, with 12 of the total taking place in the northern state of Kaduna, it said.

While President Muhammadu Buhari has imposed a lockdown on Nigeria’s two main cities, Lagos and Abuja, state governors have introduced a range of restrictions in the territories they control to curb the spread of the disease.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.