Human rights group accuses government of condoning abuses

A non-governmental organisation, Human Rights Watch, has accused the federal government of condoning human rights abuses over its failure to charge anyone for the alleged killing of over 130 civilians by security forces during last year's sectarian violence in Jos.

The global human rights organisation in a statement yesterday stated that "Nigerian government has not brought a single prosecution or even begun investigations a year after Nigerian policemen and soldiers killed more than 130 civilians in responding to deadly sectarian clashes in the central Nigerian city of Jos."

Corinne Dufka, senior West Africa researcher at the organisation said, "It's high time for the Nigerian government to turn its talk and promises into tangible action. The Nigerian government owes the families of those killed an explanation about why their loved ones are long buried, while security personnel implicated in the deaths are still walking around free."

Find the guilty

About 700 people died as a result of the sectarian violence in Jos between November 28 and 29, 2008 after a disputed local government election. Nigerian security forces reportedly used excessive force to quell the fracas. Human Rights Watch claims to posses 133 documented cases of unlawful killing by the security forces.

Though President Umaru Yar'Adua set up a panel to investigate the violence immediately after the incident in December 2008, the panel is only scheduled to begin hearings next month, after a prolonged legal battle between the Plateau State government and the federal government after the state had also set up a separate panel.

According to the group, the panel raised by the state government, headed Bola Ajibola, a former Attorney-General of the federation, held hearings but failed to investigate the alleged abuses by security forces, adding that the committee's findings, which were submitted to the governor on October 27, have not yet been made public. Neither the Nigeria Police Force nor the Nigerian Army has also investigated or punished security personnel implicated in the killings.

The Nigerian police spokesperson, Emmanuel Ojukwu, declined to react to the report. "I am yet to get the report and when I do, I will write accordingly." He, however, hinted that the police have commenced the investigations contrary to the rights body's allegation.

Reacting to the report, the Director of the Nigerian Army Public Pelations, Chris Olukolade, a brigadier general, condemned the generalisation of the report. "There is an unnecessary over-generalisation to include the army in the allegation," in a phone conversation.

"The generalisation is unfair and we are very careful in our activities and if there is any allegation, we often investigate it."

Time to act

"Given the shocking failure of the police and military to punish those responsible, a heavy burden now rests on the presidential panel to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation," Ms Dufka said.

"One year after the killings in Jos, the Nigerian government's record on accountability remains dismal. The Nigerian government simply must do more to end the deadly cycle of violence by the very state agents who are supposed to be protecting the Nigerian people," Ms Dufka added.

Citing the brazen execution in police custody of Mohammed Yusuf, leader of the Islamic militant sect, Boko Haram, in July 2009, among other incidents, the group condemned what it calls the nonchalant attitude of the Nigerian authorities to the abuses.

NEXT had earlier reported the failure of the committee to report on the findings of Mohammed Yusuf's murder, a month after the committee was set-up. All enquiries to the federal government were not responded to.

The Head of the National Human Rights Commission, Ronald Ewubare, told NEXT that a federal government delegation was in Geneva, Switzerland, the weekend after the killing, to apologise to the United Nations for the alleged extra-judicial killing of the sect's leaders. The minister of justice, Michael Aondoakaa stated then that the "federal government would punish any security agent found to have perpetrated the alleged extra-judicial killings." However,

four months later, not a single law enforcement officer has been disciplined for the killings of the late Yusuf or the others who died in police custody.

The police claim they are still waiting to receive the report from the national security adviser, according to Human Rights Watch.