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Four months after a dozen protesters of the #EndBadGovernance were killed and brutalised by security operatives including police officers, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, has ordered a comprehensive investigation into the matter.The Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Olumuyiwa Adejobi, disclosed this in a statement Monday in Abuja.
Mr Adejobi, an assistant commissioner of police (ACP), said the police chief’s order was in response to a report by Amnesty International which indicted the police of killing, brutalising and arresting protesters during the #EndBadGovernance protests last August.
In a 33-page report released on 01 December, Amnesty International said 24 people were killed during the August #EndBadGovernance protests in Borno, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and Niger states. The rights group added that several persons were injured and over 1,200 protesters were arrested, including activists and journalists.
PREMIUM TIMES had reported the killing of some protesters and the attacks on 31 journalists, including its reporter, Yakubu Mohammed, who were brutalised and arrested by the police across the country during the protests.
“In response to Amnesty International’s allegations, the IGP has directed a comprehensive investigation into the claims,” Mr Adejobi stated. “Commissioners of Police in the affected states have been mandated to submit further detailed reports on the incidents within one week.”
“This directive aims to identify any deviation from the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and rules of engagement, irrespective of the security agencies involved,” he added.
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SUPPORT NOW x Do this later The August protests Hungry and angry, many Nigerians led by different groups, including former presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore’s Take It Back Movement, marched against economic hardship resulting from unfavourable government policies.
The protesters made a long list of demands, such as the return of petrol subsidies removed by President Bola Tinubu during his inaugural speech last year.
Join the Premium Times WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You. Open in WhatsApp Specifically, they called for reversing the fuel price hike to below N300 per litre, reducing electricity tariffs, and reducing import duties to their previous rates. They also demanded the reversal of many institutions’ hikes in tertiary education fees. The protesters demanded transparency and accountability in governance, including public disclosure and reduction of public officials’ salaries and allowances and an emergency fund to support SMEs.
They also called for electoral reforms, including strengthening the autonomy of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and adapting live electronic transmission of election results. Additionally, they demanded reform of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), a state of emergency on inflation, and a reform of the judiciary to ensure swift justice delivery.
The Nigerian government tried to prevent the protests through persuasion and subtle threats but ultimately resorted to using force to suppress them. Protests were eventually held in many states, including Abuja, Borno, Kaduna, Kano and Niger, where killings, arbitrary arrests and detentions were recorded.
In its report released on 01 December, Amnesty International said about 24 protesters were killed in six states: Borno, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and Niger. The rights group added that several persons were injured and over 1,200 protesters were arrested, including activists and journalists.
Amnesty said 12 people were killed in Kano, three each in Borno, Jigawa and Niger. The group also noted that two people were killed in Kaduna and one in Katsina. Among those brutally killed were three females, including one Nana Firdausi allegedly killed by a police officer nicknamed “Jarumin Maza.” Two minors were also killed during the protests.
Pre-empting the investigation? In what appears to pre-empt the outcome of the investigation, Mr Adejobi exonerated men of the Nigeria Police Force, noting that only seven people were killed and their deaths “were not caused by police actions.”
He noted that arrests made during the protests “targeted individuals engaging in criminal acts such as treason, vandalism, robbery, arson, and looting.” According to him, the arrests were conducted lawfully, and those detained were treated within the ambit of the law.
“In a gesture of magnanimity, the Federal Government has since granted pardon to the individuals arrested during the protests despite the severity of their offences, evidencing its commitment to reconciliation and national unity,” Mr Adejobi added.
The pardon Mr Adejobi referred to appears to be the freedom granted dozens of protesters, many of them minors, following the local and international criticism of their detention and treatment by police and prison authorities. PREMIUM TIMES reported how some of the minors fainted in court due to poor treatment, over 60 days after they were detained. The criticisms forced the government to withdraw the charges against them and they were set free by the court.
However, PREMIUM TIMES understands that some protesters and organisers of the #EndBadGovernance protests are still being prosecuted nationwide.
This is not the first time the police would deny the killing of protesters during the August protests. The police spokesperson in August said four people were killed in Borno by terrorists who infiltrated the protests. He reiterated this in his Monday statement, adding two other people lost their lives in a car accident during the protests.
Also, the police boss, Mr Egbotokun, later appeared on a live television programme in August, where he extolled his officers for being civil with the protesters. This was despite glaring evidence of rights violations, including a pattern of clampdown on journalists.
“The Nigeria Police Force has maintained that it operated within established rules of engagement, providing security for peaceful protesters throughout the protests,” Mr Adejobi, the police spokesperson, said in his statement, describing the report by Amnesty International as “unfounded, misleading, and inconsistent with reports from affected police commands.”
Mr Adejobi claimed that the police did not use live ammunition on protesters.
“Officers demonstrated professionalism, restraint, and adherence to constitutional and international standards, even when subjected to attacks and injuries,” he said.
But he lied. In Suleja [Niger State] alone, no fewer than six people, including those not participating in the protests, were killed by the police, according to a PREMIUM TIMES investigation.
In Borno, the police claimed three people were killed by terrorists who infiltrated the protests. But Amnesty International said it spoke to one of the deceased’s parents who narrated how his son, Amodu, alongside two others, were killed at a petrol station where they worked as fuel attendants.
“Amodu and his colleagues were in the filling station selling fuel. When they noticed the protest was getting serious, they stopped selling the fuel and sat down,” the father told the rights group. “A convoy of police vehicles when approaching the filling station threw a hand grenade at the filling station and teargas. At once three people died including Amodu.”
Recommendations by Amnesty International Citing some legal frameworks including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) and the Public Order Act, Amnesty International noted that the “brutal crackdown on the #EndBadGovernance protesters are a clear manifestation of the failure of the Nigerian authorities to respect and facilitate the right to freedom of expression.”
The rights group urged the Nigerian authorities to refrain from violating human rights, advising that a thorough investigation be conducted to identify those suspected to be responsible and bring them to justice in a fair trial.
The group recommended the immediate and unconditional release of people detained “solely for peacefully exercising their human rights, including the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, and expression, during the hunger protests.”
It advised the government to guarantee that all #EndBadGovernance protesters who are in detention are tried per procedures that meet international standards on fair trials, such as the right to challenge the legality of detention and the right to an adequate defence, which in turn includes the right to access a lawyer at all stages of the judicial proceedings, the right to adequate time and facilities to prepare their defence, and the right to cross-examine witnesses.
The rights group, however, advised the Nigerian government to “publicly apologise to all protesters who were killed, injured, or traumatised by the security agents.”
The group strongly advised the police force to prioritise training of its officers especially on protests management.
It recommended that the police implement an ammunition registration and control system. In addition, the group advised that the police implement a communications records system to monitor operational orders and identify who issued them and who carried them out.
“Promote visible markings that personally identify police personnel who participate in public law enforcement operations,” it recommended further.
Amnesty International also called on the National Human Rights Commission to “exercise authority to investigate all allegations of human rights violations, including allegations contained in this report.”
Also, it advised the commission to ensure an effective and independent complaints system for extrajudicial executions by the police and other security forces. In such cases, the group said the commission must ensure that all such suspected cases are duly investigated.
The rights group also urged the United Nations to “publicly condemn crimes and human rights violations committed against peaceful protesters by the Nigeria police and other security forces.”
It urged the United Nations to call on the government of Nigeria to urgently initiate independent, impartial, transparent and effective investigations into allegations of human rights violations committed during the #EndBadGovernance protests, and to prosecute those suspected to be responsible in fair trials and ensure access to justice and effective remedies for victims.
To the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights, Amnesty International urged that the regional rights group begin to monitor and condemn human rights violations committed by the police and other security forces during the #EndBadGovernance protests.
In addition, it called on the regional rights group to pressure the Nigerian government to “promptly, thoroughly, independently, impartially, transparently and effectively investigate allegations of human rights violations committed during the #EndBadGovernance protests in Nigeria.”
“Urgently initiate thorough, independent, impartial investigations into allegations of human rights violations and crimes committed during the #EndBadGovernance protests in Nigeria, and to prosecute those responsible in fair trials,” Amnesty International advised the regional rights organisation.
Article publié le mardi 3 décembre 2024
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