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| Welcome to Bleeding Republic of Nigeria: A land flowing with Blood and Tears |
Executive Summary:
Introduction: This Special Report (Welcome to Bleeding Republic of Nigeria: A
Land Flowing with Blood and Tears)
is a compilation of widespread human rights abuses in Nigeria in the past 20
months of the four-year tenure of the central
Government of Retired Major Gen Muhammadu Buhari; covering 1st June 2015 to 31st January 2017. The
Report is majorly focused on Civil and Political Rights; which is
one of the four internationally existing generations of human rights. These
fundamental liberties include citizens’ constitutional and legal rights as well
as regional and international rights provided in Sections 33-46 of Nigeria’s
1999 Constitution and several regional and international legal and rights
instruments or treaties accepted and assented to by the Federal Republic of
Nigeria.
The
Civil and Political Rights are also
regarded by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 amended in
2011 as living rights or justiciable; which legally and
constitutionally means that they are governmentally observable, protectable and
enforceable, and can be compensated in the event of their breaches. This is by
virtue of Section 46 of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution. Those holding judicial,
executive and legislative offices in Nigeria are also mandatorily required in
Section 13 of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution to conform to, observe and apply
these constitutional liberties in discharge of their constitutional duties.
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| Welcome to Bleeding Republic of Nigeria: A land flowing with Blood and Tears |
President
M. Buhari’s military background and his grossly poor human rights antecedents
including 20 months of his maximum military rulership (January 1984-August
1985) was critically assessed and compared with past 20 months of his present
civilian Presidency in Nigeria.
Research Methodology: This Special Report was compiled by
the Research Team of International
Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law headed by Emeka
Umeagbalasi-a Criminologist & Graduate of Security Studies with post
graduate expertise in Peace & Conflict Studies. It was largely built on
previous reports on security and human rights issues in Nigeria; issued by
respected international rights organizations and research institutions such as
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Committee for the Protection of
Journalists (CPJ), the Global Terrorism Index of the Institute for Economics
and Peace; and the (Christian) Open Doors International, among others. Those
reports were technically aggregated, congregated, studied and updated in this
Special Report.
The Special Report was further built on previous publications of Intersociety and credible media reports
on the subject matter by leading local and international print and web media. Intersociety also gathered reliable
data and information from leading victim-groups such as IPOB, Shiite Muslim
sect and the authorities of the ECWA Church and the Catholic Archdiocese of
Kafanchan in Kaduna, etc. Data gathered were independently verified.
We also conducted series of
interviews with accompanied legal certifications from members of some dead
victims’ families and the shot and wounded victims or survivors. All the photos
used in the photo segment of this Report were carefully verified and traced to
the crime victims, crime scenes and crime perpetrators. In all, it is a hybrid
based Special Report.
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| Welcome to Bleeding Republic of Nigeria: A land flowing with Blood and Tears |
Various citizens’ constitutional
and legal rights and safeguards in Nigeria as well as their regional and
international counterparts which the Federal Republic of Nigeria willingly
assented to and accepted to be bound by, were also studied and applied in the
course of this Special Report. Pieces of useful information from security
establishments and other agencies of the Government of Nigeria available at open sources were considered as well.
Executive Summary: Welcome To Bleeding Republic of Nigeria: A
Land Flowing With Blood & Tears; is a compilation of the State of
Widespread Rights Abuses covering the past 20 months of the central civilian
Government of Retired Major Gen Muhammadu Buhari or from 1st June
2015 to 31st January 2017. The present central Government of Nigeria
headed by Retired Major Gen Muhammadu Buhari was elected and sworn in on 29th
May 2015 for a four-year term (May 29th 2015-May 29th
2019).
The Special
Report is saddening but unique in that it found that regime atrocities, abuse
of office and gross contempt for constitutionalism and human rights principles;
which were widespread in 20 months of Major Gen Muhammadu Buhari (as he then
was) military’s inglorious epoch or from January 1984-August 1985; have also
become widespread in the past 20 months of his current civilian Presidency or
from 1st June 2015- 31st January 2017.
Of the existing
four generations of human rights locally and internationally, the
civil and political rights; constitutionally tagged living
rights or justiciable are the worst violated by the current civilian Presidency
of Muhammadu Buhari. Our Report, which is divided into text and photo segments,
empirically found that average of 550 defenceless and unarmed citizens were
slaughtered, butchered or shot dead in each of the past 20 months of the
Buhari’s civilian Presidency covering June 2015 to January 2017.
A total of over
11,000 criminal or unlawful deaths were also recorded in the said past 20
months. This is the highest in the history of democratic Nigeria; particularly
under a non war situation. The most shocking part of it is that the central
Government of Retired Major Gen Muhammadu Buhari and its security agencies
particularly the Army, Police and Air Force are collectively responsible for
about 52% or over 5700 while the Nomad Fulani and the Boko Haram terrorists
accounted for the remaining 48% or over 5300 others.
Over 2000
Christian lives were also lost to Nomad Fulani Jihadists in Nigeria in 2016
alone, with at least 850 killed in Southern Kaduna while over 1200 others took
place in Benue, Enugu, Taraba, Nasarawa and Plateau States, etc. Over 800
criminal deaths associated with killing of Christians took place in the last
six months of 2015. Even the Buhari Administration through its National
Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and its Kaduna State counterpart-SEMA, had
on their part, claimed that 376 persons were killed in Southern Kaduna between
May and December 2016. They also labelled the killing of Christians by
untouchable Nomad Fulani Jihadists as “communal clashes”.
In January 2017
alone, over 350 defenceless citizens lost their lives to wilful air bombing by
the Nigerian Air Force, Pro Trump Rally killing by Nigerian Army and Nomad
Fulani and Boko Haram Jihadism. The Buhari Administration’s warped report with
mangled figures on Southern Kaduna Christian butcheries is contained here: http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/general/376-killed-in-southern-kaduna-in-6-months-report/183924.html.
Through
custodial killings arising from torture and wilful custodial shootings, not
less than 4000 criminal deaths may most likely have been recorded in the hands
of Police SARS, SCIDs and the Army across the country in the said past 20
months; on average of 200 per month or six per State monthly. A clear case of
custodial killings in Nigeria was the Ezu River saga of 19th January 2013 in Anambra State of Nigeria
where between 30 and 40 lifeless bodies strongly believed to be victims of
Anambra State Police SARS extra judicial executions were found floating in Ezu
River.
Another newest
case is contained in the recent Amnesty International Special Report for 2016/7
in which it found that “not less than 240 civilians including 29 children and
babies, aged between new born and five years, died in 2016 in the Nigerian Army
detention custody at the Giwa Military Barracks in Maiduguri, Borno State and
were secretly buried in Maiduguri’s cemetery by the Borno State Environmental
Protection Agency staff”. Reference:http://sunnewsonline.com/29-children-211-others-die-in-military-cells-in-nigeria-amnesty/
Yet
another case in point was the recent arrest of six operatives of the Special
Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Anambra State Police Command at Awkuzu:
namely- Adolphosus Dimgba, Gabriel Imafidon, Chukwudili Oyenka, Pat Amadike,
Usman Bala Hamza, Theodore Igiede and Amechi Ebere Okonkwo. The torture and
murder culprits were arrested on IGP’s order for torture and murder in custody
of Citizen Ejike Bob-Manuel on 16th February 2016. The deceased was
arrested, detained, tortured and murdered in captivity following a business
dispute with the mastermind, Mr. Jerome Aghachukwu; leading to a petition
written to Nigeria Police Headquarters by the Joint Legal Action Aids (JLAA)
led by Barr Kingsley Ughe.
The Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police
Force and the Nigerian Air Force and their chiefs and commander-in-chief; on
the other hand, are collectively, vicariously and individually responsible for
the State murder of at least 1750 unarmed and defenceless citizens between 30th
August 2015 and 31st January 2017 including the Rann IDP bombing by the
Nigerian Air Force that killed at least 236 defenceless citizens on 17th
January 2017. These State killings did not include 240 persons including 29
children and babies that died in the custody of the Nigerian Army in 2016 in
Borno State, as exclusively reported by Amnesty International. When added, the
number of State murders under the Buhari Administration in the said past 20
months will be 1990 deaths.
Other documented State murders
contained in this Special Report are the mass killing of 1120 defenceless
Shiite Muslims and massacre of at least 270 unarmed Pro Biafra Campaigners in
the periods between August 2015 and January 2017 including 15-20 unarmed
citizens or more killed at the Pro Trump Solidarity Rally on 20th
January 2017. Over 870 members and supporters of IPOB and Shiite Muslim sect
were also terminally shot and wounded by Nigerian security forces in the said
past 20 months.
Three genocides
(i.e. mass killing in droves of unarmed and defenceless members of a
particular ethnic or religious group whether in war or non war situations) and
two war
crimes have also been recorded in the past 20 months of the Buhari
Government or between June 2015 and January 2017. They are Shiite Muslim Procession
Genocide, Pro Biafra Campaign Genocide and Southern Kaduna Christian Genocide; as
well as two war crimes
involving the Rann IDP Bombing and the Maiduguri Giwa Military Barracks Custody
Killing of 240 Civilians (including 29 children and babies).
The number of
citizens arrested and dumped into several months of detention without trial in
the past 20 months of the Buhari’s Government is also alarming and shocking.
The authorities of SSS are substantially responsible for this aspect of gross
abuse of the citizens’ constitutional and legal rights; likewise muzzling of
press freedoms and democratic free speeches and reckless disobedience to court
orders and other judicial pronouncements. Incidences of harassment and
intimidation of independent journalists and bloggers have also gone viral in
the past 20 months of the Buhari Government in Nigeria. In all, the state of
human rights violations under the Buhari civilian Government is horribly and
alarmingly widespread.
Recommendations:
1. International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law
(Intersociety), is calling on the
central civilian Government of Retired Major Gen Muhammadu Buhari/Federal
Government of Nigeria to end the senseless and wicked massacre by both security
forces and armed opposition groups particularly the Nomad Fulani and Boko Haram
Jihadists of unarmed and defenceless citizens individually and massively, as
well as other forms of regime atrocities that had pervaded the Buhari
Administration in the past 20 months. There should also be total policy
reversal including unconditional release of all political detainees and end to
policy of militarism and militarization.
2. The Buhari Administration/Federal
Government of Nigeria should set aside $5Bliion for adequate compensation of
over 1750 victims of State murders and 4000 victims of Police SARS/Army
custodial killings as well as not less than 2800 unarmed Christians killed by
Nomad Fulani Jihadists between June 2015 and January 2017.
The $5Billion State Crime Victims
Compensation Scheme, which will be subject to 50% upward review every
five years if unpaid; should be divided into four categories of: $1Billion to
members or families and group-victims (IPOB) of over 270 slain members of IPOB
and other Pro Biafra Campaigners; $500Million to over 370 terminally shot and
injured Pro Biafra Campaigners; $1.5Billion to 1120 slain members of the Shiite
Muslims and their IMN as well as
$500Million for 400 of their members terminally shot and wounded.
The sum of $500Million should be
set aside by the Buhari Government/Federal Government of Nigeria through its
Ministry of Police Affairs for compensation of 4000 victims who may most likely
have been slain in the past 20 months, by way of custodial killings arising
from torture and wilful custodial shootings. This should be done on the basis
of proper identification of dead victims by their immediate families and
lawyers. The remaining $1Billion should be paid by the Buhari Government to the
families and the churches of over 2800 dead Christians who are victims of the
Nomad Fulani Jihadism in Nigeria since June 2015.
This is on account of the Buhari
Government’s vicarious culpability, by way of aiding and abetting. As the
national grand patron of “the Miyatti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of
Nigeria”, President Muhammadu Buhari appeared to have allowed personal
sentiments to becloud his official position as the father of the country and
protector of every citizen irrespective of his or her ethno-religious and age
background or identity. Till date, no investigations into the killing of
Christians have been carried out and concluded and the perpetrators are still
on the prowl.
3. The Buhari Government/Federal Government of Nigeria must arrest
and prosecute all the perpetrators of the above mentioned heinous crimes
perpetrated between June 2015 and January 2017. Those to be arrested and
prosecuted include the current Army Chief of Staff, the former IGP of Police
(August 2015-May 2016), the current IGP of Police, the Chief of Air Staff, the
Chief of Defence Staff, the GOC 82nd
Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu (from August 2015 to May 2016); the
Commanders of 302 Artillery Regiment, Onitsha, 144 Battalion of the Nigerian
Army, Aba (August 2015 to May 2016 or till date) and current Commander of the 6th
Division of the Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt; as well as Major M.I. Ibrahim of
the Nigerian Military Police, who militarily led the May 29th and 30th
Biafra Heroes Day massacre in Nkpor, Onitsha and Asaba.
Others are Commissioners of
Police of Anambra and Abia States (August 2015 to May 2016), the Aba Area
Commander (between January and February 2016), the Deputy Commissioner of
Police for Operations in Anambra State between December 2015 to May 2016 (now
CP Johnson Babatunde Kokomo), etc; as well as the present Governors of Anambra,
Abia and Kaduna States(for aiding the State security agencies and criminal
entities in the mass killing of unarmed and innocent Pro Biafra Campaigners and
Christian/Shiite faithful; respectively in their States).
The principal officers of the
“Miyatti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria” should be arrested and
charged for manslaughter as well as immediate proscription of the registered
organization and presidential declaration of same as a terrorist organization. Where
the Buhari Government/Federal Government of Nigeria fails in 90 days to bring
to justice the above mentioned public office holders and their sub commanders
and foot perpetrators, as well as named non State actor perpetrators; then the
international community and other international non State actors particularly
the ICC, the UN Security Council and African regional criminal courts, etc
should act without further delays in accordance with the International Law’s
Principles of Complementarity and No Impunity.
These can be done through establishment of the UN Special Criminal
Court for Nigeria or through ICC or African Special Criminal Court for Nigeria
or foreign countries’ municipal courts with international criminal and civil
jurisdictions. Those covered by local constitutional immunities by virtue
of their present political offices such as the perpetrator-President of Nigeria
and the three named serving Governors should be internationally investigated
and prosecuted for genocide or war crimes or crimes against humanity or community
of same.
4. The UK and other members
of the European Union; the USA, Russia, Canada, Japan, China, Brazil and India
should raise a serious concern about gross or widespread rights abuses in
Nigeria particularly the mass killing of unarmed and defenceless civilians by
the Government of Retired Major Gen Muhammadu Buhari and its security forces as
well as aiding and abetting of the mass killing of Christians and perpetration
of other forms of regime atrocities.
Beyond raising serious diplomatic
concerns, the leaders of the countries under reference should also consider
placing travelling ban on those named serving public office holders including
the immediate past Inspector General of Police as well as other serving
political appointees who are complicit. Placing embargo on supply of Small Arms
and Light Weapons (SALWs) used by the Buhari Government to perpetrate the
widespread rights abuses and other regime atrocities should also be seriously
considered by leaders of the named countries; likewise tying the release of $672mIllion
recently pledged at Oslo Summit for humanitarian assistance in the insurgency
infested Northeast to mandatory arrest and prosecution of all those mentioned.
The redemption of the humanitarian pledge by world leaders to the Government of
Nigeria must also be tied to the payment of $5Billion compensations by
Government of Nigeria to immediate families and associates of the State and its
surrogates’ crime victims under reference.
5. The Government of
Muhammadu Buhari/Federal Government of Nigeria should re-organize and
restructure Nigeria’s security establishments and their headships and revert to
the constitutional geopolitical equity and fairness in accordance with Section
14 (3) of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution. To this effect, there shall be mass sack
of the present heads and strategic commanding officers of the Nigerian Armed
Forces including the Army, SSS and the Police so as to rid them of their
present gross lopsidedness and northern Muslim grips and dominations; which
have brought about the present grossly lopsided citizens’ policing
representation and protection along divisive ethno-religious lines.
Signed:
For: International
Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety)
·
Emeka Umeagbalasi (Criminologist & Graduate of Security Studies)
Board Chairman
Mobile Line: +2348174090052
Email: emekaumeagbalasi69@gmail.com
·
Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Esq.,
LLB, BL
Head, Civil Liberties & Rule of Law Program
Mobile Line: + 2348180771506
·
Chinwe Umeche, Esq., LLB, BL
Head, Democracy & Good Governance Program
Mobile Line: +2347013238673
·
Grace Amarachi, Esq., LLB, BL
Head, Public Security & Safety Advocacy Program
Mobile Line: +2348130821493
·
Ndidiamaka C. Bernard, Esq., LLB, BL
Head, Int’l Justice & Human Rights Program
Mobile Line: +2348067557308
2017 Publication of Int’l Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule
of Law (Intersociety)
Address: 41, Miss Elems Street: 430003 Onitsha, Southeast Nigeria
Mobile Lines: +2348182411462, +2349063500218
Email: info@intersociety-ng.org
Website: intersociety-ng.org
Dated: Sunday, 12th
March 2017
Link to the Special Report is here: http://intersociety-ng.org/site-administrator/downloads/category/17-special-report
Link to the Executive Summary of the Report is here: http://intersociety-ng.org/site-administrator/downloads/category/18-executivesummanry
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