The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) has revealed that Nigerian security agencies killed 13, 241 citizens since 2011. In its ‘Democracy Watch Reports,’ the CDD observed that “extra-judicial killings by state actors have become the primary cause of death in the country.” The rights group also expressed concern over the nation’s shrinking civic space and the dwindling fortunes of democracy in the last 22 years.
The Director of CDD, Idayat Hassan, regretted that unlawful killings had become rife in the country since 1999. According to her, “these unlawful killings go largely unpunished, thanks in part to Nigeria’s Force Order 237, which allows officers to use lethal force in ways that contravene international law, and because of government corruption and a prevailing culture of impunity.”
For a country that is not at war and not under a military rule, the number of Nigerians killed extra-judicially, as indicated in the CDD report, is troubling and must be investigated. There are also fears that the figure might be conservative considering the fact that many of such cases across the country may not have been reported.
There is no doubt that the use of force against Nigerians holding contrary views on government policies and actions has become a major preoccupation of the nation’s security agents in recent times. Peaceful protests in the country are usually met with violent attacks by security personnel, thus creating a climate of fear that limits the right of citizens to assemble. Before the CDD came out with its report, other civil society organisations had made worrisome disclosures on the scale of rights abuses in the country. Amnesty International (AI) had, in August, remarked that Nigerian security forces had committed a catalogue of human rights violations and crimes under international law in their response to spiraling violence in the South East.
In specific terms, the organisation accused the security personnel of carrying out repressive campaigns since January which had included sweeping mass arrests, excessive and unlawful force, torture and other cases of ill-treatment against the citizens.
It also blamed the security agencies for deploying excessive force in dealing with members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in Imo and Anambra states.
Other abuses, it noted, included physical abuse, secret detentions, burning of houses, theft, and extrajudicial executions of suspects. AI estimated that the death toll of violence between January and June 2021 in Anambra, Imo, Abia, and Ebonyi states might run into the hundreds. Earlier, Global Rights, another international human rights non-governmental organisation, noted that no fewer than 122 cases of extra-judicial killings were recorded in the country between January and October 4, 2020 alone. The organisation claimed that the extra-judicial killings resulted from the extortion and harassment by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and the clashes between trigger-happy police officers and other Nigerians during protests.
Giving details of extra-judicial killings in 2020, the rights organisation stated that five persons were killed in January; 20 in February; seven in March; 24 in April; eight in May; 16 in June; six in July; 30 in August; four in September and two in October.
In December 2015, there were reports of 350 dead bodies buried in a mass grave in Kaduna, after clashes between the army and supporters of Ibrahim Zakzaky over allegation that members of Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), tried to kill the then chief of army staff.
We commend the CDD for the damning revelation and condemn the culture of arbitrariness that led to the rise of extra-judicial killings. It is sad that security agents that ought to protect the citizens are the ones killing them unlawfully.
Let the government probe the rising cases of extra-judicial killings and bring to book those involved in the illegality. The killings should not be swept under the carpet. Security officials should be made to know that their duty is not to kill Nigerians but to protect them. Any killing not backed by law must be avoided. There is need for cordial relationship between the citizens and the security operatives. This calls for proper orientation of security agents on how they can relate with the civilians.
The war against drug abuse should be extended to the security agencies, given the fact that often, some of their personnel involved in the untoward actions against the citizens are under the influence of banned substances.
We urge the government to streamline the number of security agencies in the country to ensure that only those qualified to bear arms are allowed to do so. The proliferation of armed security agents without adequate training might also be responsible for rising cases of extra-judicial killings across the country.