Abuja Bus Crash Riots - The Riots

The Riots

The crash had also come after a series of high-casualty accidents, including two in the last few months that killed over 20 people and another which killed over 50. On the following day, furious at the poorly maintained roads, incompetent or corrupt officials and total lack of road security or law-enforcement by police, people in Nyanya took to the streets in protest. This protest was supposedly arranged in order to convince the federal government to step in and widen the dangerous road.

Events of the day are confusing, some claiming that the protests were peaceful and that what occurred was a police riot, others suggesting that there was an all out riot in progress which the police had to put down. The police report that a policeman was killed by a gunshot as they approached the protesters, whilst protesters claim the death of the policeman occurred after the riot broke out. The eventual result was that the police opened fire on the crowd, killing three and then pursuing, beating several more people.

Riots continued in Nyanya and other areas of the city, both related to the bus disaster and in protest at police brutality and government corruption, as well as opportunistic. Parts of the city were damaged, with several cars and buildings set on fire by the mobs. Another major vehicle crash, the Ibadan tanker truck explosion three months later, also provoked riots, aimed specifically at the police.

Nigeria was at this time experiencing a period of massive social upheval and unrest. The country was extremely poverty stricken, with huge shanty towns filled with rebellious groups, free to express some of their resentment at the government following the fall of the thirty year military dictatorship in 1999. On top of this, the country was, and still is, heavily divided along religious lines, with the North being predominantly Muslim whilst the South is strongly Christian. Strong friction between the communities was the catalyst for dozens of intercommunity riots at this period, and it is possible the protest following the bus station disaster were linked to the wider violent protest movement in Nigeria at that time.