Spilling the blood of protesters in Garden City

They lived in a vast shanty town, but the ramshackle community was built on valuable waterfront land coveted by the powerful. In their continuing protest against forcible removal by the state government to make way for a new private development, the residents of this Port Harcourt slum are now paying for their resistance in blood.

Five people are declared missing and more feared dead, with at least another 11 people nursing gunshot injuries. Several others say they were clubbed, whipped and had their personal effects looted by law enforcement officials during a particularly bloody crackdown on Monday October 12. Police are reported to have downplayed the casualty rate.

Eyewitnesses say that officers of the police force and army initially drove through a crowd staging a peaceful protest to disperse it. The security officials later came back; shooting in the air and also directly at the people, before marching through the waterfront community to lash out at and beat the protesters for well over an hour. Israel Okorie was chanting anti-government slogans when he was shot in the back. He spoke to NEXT via telephone.

"We were there by 7:30am to 7:45am. We say the first two armoured tankers that came. When they came, we were telling them that please, they should not touch our place, they should tell the governor to leave us alone; our places are not for sale.

When were talking to those ones, we saw a number of army vehicles, one small armoured car in front, with another white Hilux at the back, filled with army (men). They were in a convoy, coming from Prison Road, wearing camouflage. The next thing, they just opened fire on us, they were just shooting our women. They drove to Dockyard where they parked the armoured cars and Hilux next to the first cars that came."

Mr. Okorie said that he ran to the nearby Warder Barracks. He said: "they shot for more than three to four hours."

Joy Henry, a shop owner, told NEXT she had just opened her provisions store for the day when the protest began. "I had to run for my life when I heard the shooting," she said. She would return later to find that a bullet had passed through the metal door of her miniature store, lodging itself inside one of many tins of Bournvita she sells for a living.

Video: Residents struggle to explain what happened

Ojike Opiom's household was not so lucky. "I first saw people moving round and round, so I stayed inside my house. Next, I heard some gunshots. I saw people carrying people with blood passing by, blood, everywhere, Bundu people, Bundu people," he told NEXT.

It would take the loud wailing of his daughters before he realised his first son, Victor was one of the victims. The 29-year old electrician had defied the orders of his father and wandered out of the house. He came back with a gunshot to the hand for his efforts. "I was not among the protesters. I was just standing and looking. Government shot me," he said, while his father rebuked him loudly in the background. "Can you fight government?" the elder Opiom asked.

‘We are at the warfront.'

NEXT reporter counted at least 16 bullet holes in the maze of private residences, shops and cars in Bundu-Ama. Initially, residents shouted at neighbours who spoke up, while others accused the press of complacence. But soon, a resident held up an empty bullet cartridge, another accepted to have his picture taken. They came out, each interviewee seeking out another; a neighbour, a colleague, daughter: all were victims. As reporters moved through the site, scantily-clad children pointed out the community's sad attraction; a wall which still sported a bullet casing.

"We are at the warfront in Bundu," Voke Ovie told NEXT in vernacular. "The kind of weapons we saw with them are not normal police weapons. Even inside the house, everybody was under the table," he explained.

Neighbours of Austin Ogwah, one of the victims whose house was visited by NEXT, said the attacks were haphazard. Soldiers reportedly burst into Mr. Ogwah's residence and shot him in the stomach. He was rushed to the Teme Hospital. Peter Frank, another resident, told NEXT he was walking along the community hours later, when he was approached by three "army men" and told to lie down on the floor. He was beaten. Shola Oginni, a taxi driver who abandoned his car by the road said it had been towed by policemen who were seeking a bribe before he could get back his vehicle, "please help me beg them. This is my only source of livelihood."

There are reports among women of houses broken into, personal effects taken and goods stolen without payment by the soldiers.

Why Bundu?

Despite the incident, the enumeration of houses at Bundu-Ama went on as planned. Mr. Hassan was quoted as saying on Tuesday October 13 that his men "normally dominate waterfronts as part of our patrol policy in the state. Our presence their had nothing to do with the enumeration exercise."

This assertion was denied by the residents.

Mr. Okorie said; "I saw them. They were shooting and going inside Bundu, while the people doing the enumeration were marking the buildings."

Voke Ovie said the situation was uncalled for. "They shot us, just to carry out the marking of houses alone. They should provide an alternative for us before they chase us away from here, at least," he said in broken English.

All residents spoken to said they had not received formal explanations why their houses were being enumerated.

Ada Williams, head of the community told NEXT on Wednesday that the October 12 incident would be the second attempt at enumeration of houses in Bundu-Ama and both had been done via intimidation.

"Last week Tuesday (October 6), about 7:00 am, 7:30am , I was informed that there were armoured cars and troopers, vans, loaded with army, police, all going into Bundu community. They said they came to enumerate the houses. I didn't even take my breakfast, just to avoid this problem. I saw the head of the enumeration team, one Mr. David. They said that the boys met them, that they are not aware of what they came for. I asked them, why do you come here with force? You are intimidating us, this is a civilian government. If you are to enumerate these houses, why don't you inform us? We are to work with you. I do not have the powers to forestall your activity. You have the option to go ahead, or look for a way to meet with us, let us arrange. This matter is in court. The court has instructed the government and we that we should maintain status quo. And we are going to court on the 13th. Let's wait until after the court verdict. They apologised and left. There was no resistance."

Mr. Williams said the exercise was not a priority. "They do not have any developmental plans. We have not seen anything that is too serious for this government to demolish the waterfront. It should not be taken as a priority for now because there are so many other projects that can benefit the people."

Repeated attempts to speak to the Rivers State government officials failed. Phone calls to Osima Ginah, the state's Commissioner for Urban development, were not answered. Nor did he respond to two text messages sent to him. The story was the same with the phone calls made and text messages sent to Ogbonna Nwuke, the state's Commissioner for Information

Repairing the damage

The Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) aid organisation issued a statement on Thursday October 15 on its website that its personnel had "received patients reportedly injured in a demonstration against the demolition of the Bundu-Ama waterfront area in Port Harcourt so far treated nine casualties from Bundu-Ama" at the Teme trauma centre, located in Diobu.

Its statement read that; "all of the injuries were the result of gunshot wounds. People suffered from abdominal and chest wounds as well as bone fractures. Two patients required immediate surgical care."

Tonikey Napoleon Kalio was one of the patients. Derefaka Kalio, his brother, confirmed to NEXT via telephone that the father of one was admitted at Teme Hospital.

"I am taking care of my brother who was shot in the stomach. They shot him at Bundu, on his way to work. Right now, my brother is unconscious."

He also expressed anger at the government; "I am going to hold Amaechi responsible if anything happens to my brother. We have had other governors before him and it wasn't like this. If anything happens to my brother, Amaechi will have to kill two brothers," he said.

Bob-Manuel, brother to Belinda Gladstone, a student who was shot in the leg, said he was "tired of the questions."

A still unidentified corpse with gunshots to the face was also deposited at the Braithwaite Memorial Hospital. It is still lying there, with no answers about its identity and the motives of those who killed him.