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PHOTOS: How Soldiers Attached To Dangote Killed 7 People At Company’s Factory (INVESTIGATION)

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For 19-year-old Terhile Jirbo, it was another answer to the call of nature. But when gunfire rang out that afternoon of March 18, what seemed a harmless routine would leave a fatal scar on him and his community in Gboko, a major town in the North-central state of Benue which plays host to Dangote’s Gboko Cement Factory.

Members of Mbayion community in Gboko had responded after a soldier shot Mr. Jirbo for emptying his bowel near the cement factory, the second most lucrative cement factory belonging to Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote. The attacker was one of two-dozen troops securing the multibillion-dollar factory.

In protest of the shooting, the community members marched outside the factory, and for hours, they asked for justice.

But as they hurled insults at the soldiers, asking them to leave the community, the troops responded with gunfire, according to state officials, witnesses, and community leaders.

Shot on the leg, one woman laid bloodied on the ground, and tried to crawl to safety. Then, a soldier closed up on her, pointed his rifle directly at her head and blasted, a witness said.

The woman’s brain matter splattered on another bullet-ridden victim, a man feigning death next to her. That man survived the attack even after a bullet ripped open his abdomen, spilling out his intestines.

When the shooting and the confusion subsided over three hours later, the death toll stood at seven – one woman, six men.

The victims – aged 36 and below – were all shot dead by troops of the Nigerian army, survivors and community members said.

By chance or fate, Mr. Jirbo, the teenager whose shooting by a soldier ignited the fracas, survived the attack. But he would be deformed for life, his mouth disfigured and emptied of almost all teeth in the upper region. A member of the more than two-dozen military team guarding the multibillion-dollar Gboko cement factory shot him in the mouth.

His offence: relieving himself near the Dangote factory complex, and refusing to pack the waste with his mouth when ordered to do so by the soldier.

In the outburst of violence that followed, the soldiers shot dead Doose Ornguze, 19, female; Luper Nongo Igber, 20, male; Timothy Terngu Mase, 21, male; Myom Mbaume, 25, male; Aondoyima Tyokase, 26, male; Iornenge Anum, 35, male and Aondoakura Tseeneke, 36, male.

Bodies of victims of the shooting in a hospital in Markurdi shortly before burial.

Bodies of victims of the shooting in a hospital in Markurdi shortly before burial.

They were killed in violation of their rights to life and human dignity as enshrined in Chapter Four of the Nigerian Constitution.

Eight others were seriously wounded in the attack, among them Thomas Igber, Sesugh Nongo, and Joseph Akpa Yaji.

Months of investigation by PREMIUM TIMES has shed light into a deadly violation of human rights perpetrated by state forces at a time Nigeria faces international scrutiny over human rights abuses in its war against suspected Boko Haram militants.

Community leaders spoke of how the Dangote group and the federal government brushed aside the killings, offered no assistance to the families of those killed or wounded by the troops. The government, also, has yet to punish or publicly identify those responsible for the massacre in the town.

While the military and the Dangote group confirmed the attack and the killings to PREMIUM TIMES, both have failed to impress the community on the steps they took to show sympathy, offer compensation to bereaved families or even help bury the dead.

Four months after the killings, that situation has remained the same despite repeated petitions by the community to the highest civilian and military authorities, including President Goodluck Jonathan, Senate President David Mark (an indigene of Benue State), and defence minister, Aliyu Gusau.

The Dangote group said it has reached out to the community since the killings, but did not state exactly what help it offered, and whether or not the offer was accepted.

But Sebastian Hon, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and an indigene of the community punctured that claim. “We wrote to Dangote about the killing of our youth since March but he has not found it expedient to reply the letter,” Mr. Hon said. “He never offered any assistance towards the treatment of the youth who sustained gunshot injuries or contribute to the burial of the seven youth who were killed.”

The community said it decided to bear the cost of autopsy on the victims, their embalmment and burial on behalf of the affected families, after help failed to come from the company whose guards killed them.

Army officials and witnesses said after the shooting of Mr. Jirbo – the man wounded in the mouth – the commander of the army unit on duty rounded up the soldier who shot him, disarmed him, seized his belt and beret and secured him in a guard room.

The army would not say what has happened to the soldier, or other soldiers who later opened fire on protesters, killing seven.

A spokesperson for the army, Olajide Olaleye, a Brigadier General, told PREMIUM TIMES investigations into the incident “are continuing”.

Faeces of Death

The first gunshot that day was fired at about 1p.m., witnesses and Mr. Jirbo, who survived the shooting, said.

Mr. Jirbo had walked into the popular BCC Layout for a haircut. The layout is named after the factory’s former name, Benue Cement Company, before its acquisition by Mr. Dangote.

Daily, hundreds of trucks wait at the bay area to convey processed cement to other parts of Nigeria. In queues snaking into a long distance, the truck drivers wait for their turns, sometimes for days.

That time lag provides a bustling neighbourhood life of sorts, which allows locals make brisk business selling everything from food to drinks to bush meat.

There are bars and shops and salons around the area, and in some parts, young men play snooker. Sometimes, they play against the military guards, with whom they also share drinks occasionally.

But despite the heavy human and vehicular activities in the vicinity, the government failed to provide basic facilities such as toilets in the area, which sits just by the Dangote cement factory. The area is overgrown with tall weeds and marked by broken walls of what used to be a perimeter wall separating the cement factory from Mbayion community. When pressed to ease themselves, locals and drivers use nearby bushes.

Mr. Jirbo recalled playing snooker with a popular soldier among the guards, known by his nickname 13-13, that March morning. After the game, he stopped at one of the salons for a haircut, and headed for the bush afterwards to relieve himself.

He was tidying himself up to leave when a soldier manning one of the security posts inside the expansive factory accosted him, and challenged him for defecating in the area, Mr. Jirbo said.

He argued that the space was not part of Dangote’s property, and besides, it was a common practice for people within the layout to clear their bowels there.

That explanation failed to impress the soldier who barked orders at the teenager, asking him to pack the waste with his mouth and threatened to shoot if he failed. Mr. Jirbo said he pleaded and asked to use his hands.

Jirbo after surgeries.

Jirbo after surgeries.

The situation degenerated in seconds, and the soldier pointed his rifle at Mr. Jirbo’s mouth while ordering him to act fast or risk being shot, the survivor recalled.

Mr. Jirbo failed to comply, and the price was horrific. The bullet tore his mouth open, ripped it of almost all teeth and threw him to the ground. He managed to spring back to his feet, and then ran into the community where he collapsed.

“The soldier was inside the security post at the trailer park,” he narrated to PREMIUM TIMES. “I saw two soldiers but it was one of them that shot at me.” His account of the incident was corroborated by other witnesses.

On a recent visit to Mbayion months after the attack, he sat on a wooden chair, his face contorted as he struggled to answer our reporter’s questions with his now severely stitched mouth. He sounded furious as he spoke.

Jirbo before the attack.

Jirbo before the attack.

Midway into the interview, Mr. Jirbo’s uncle fetched the boy’s picture before the attack. The difference was clear and heart wrenching.

A stocky young man, he lost his two parents in 2012. Since their deaths, he has lived with an uncle, Moses Garba, and worked as a loader at the Gboko Timber Market.

The attack on Mr. Jirbo would unleash horror on the laid back Mbayion community.

Hurls of abuses, hail of bullets

As news of the shooting spread within the community, angry youth gathered for a protest.

Head on to Premium Times to read the full story.

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