By Kingston Magare 9.12.2025
The Nigerian Army said Tuesday that its soldiers were not responsible for the death of seven women who were gunned down while protesting against violence in Lamurde, Adamawa State.
On Monday the women were allegedly shot at by soldiers in the entourage Brigade Commander, Amechi Agwu, of the 23 Brigade, A group of women were hit by bullets, seven of them died on the spot, on Tuesday “two more deaths were recorded while 23 are in hospital in Numan; 28 in hospital in Yola — bringing the total to 60 women struck by bullets,” said a community leader who provided an update.
The soldiers were in Adamawa to quell the clash over community land between the Chobo and Bachama tribes in Adamawa.
Reacting to the allegations Tuesday, Nigeria Army assistant director of public relations Captain Olusegun Abidoye said it was not the soldiers that opened fire on the women, but militia men from Chobo who were not trained in the handling of firearms.
“The attention of Headquarters 23 Brigade Nigerian Army has been drawn to a baseless report by the Sahara Reporters and some other online media published on Monday, 8 December 2025. The said report levelled unfounded and false allegations against the Brigade and its Commander.
“Without equivocation, the casualties were caused by the unprofessional handling of automatic weapons by the local militias who are not proficiently trained to handle such automatic weapons,” Captain Abidoye said in the statement.