A number of people have reportedly been shot dead or wounded at a protest against police brutality in Nigeria’s biggest city, Lagos.
Witnesses and the rights group Amnesty International said several people were killed and wounded when soldiers opened fire.
The state governor said about 25 people had been wounded but denied there were any fatalities.
An indefinite 24-hour curfew has been imposed on Lagos and other regions.
Protests over a now-disbanded police unit – the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (Sars) – have been taking place for two weeks, with demonstrators using the social media hashtag #EndSars to rally crowds.
As tensions continued to rise on Wednesday, police in different districts of Lagos fired shots in the air to disperse protesters defying the curfew, the media reports indicate reports from the capital, Abuja.
Protesters who briefly gathered again at the Lekki toll gate – where Tuesday’s shootings took place – were forced out by police, he adds.
President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed for “understanding and calm”.
In a statement on Wednesday, President Buhari did not directly refer to the shootings, but called on people to have patience as police reforms “gather pace”.
A statement issued by his office said the dissolution of the Sars was “the first step in a set of reform policies that will deliver a police system accountable to the Nigerian people”.
“The presidency wishes to reiterate the full commitment of the Buhari administration to the implementation of lasting police reforms in Nigeria,” it added.
The army has not issued a statement on events in Lekki, but in several Twitter posts it described media reports as “fake news”.
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who visited hospitals on Wednesday, said about 25 people had been wounded in what he described as an “unfortunate shooting incident”.
“We are comforted that we have not recorded any fatality, as against the widespread circulation on social media,” he said, adding that an investigation had been ordered.
However, he contradicted the army, telling the BBC’s Newshour programme that the military had been present at the scene at the time of the shooting despite public assurances that soldiers would not deploy until after the start of a curfew at 21:00.
“I think about seven o’clock or thereabouts there was a small unit of the military that went [to Lekki] and we heard that gunshots were fired,” he said.
