THE high rate of extrajudicial killing across the country calls for serious concern from everyone who believes in the sanctity of human life. This bloody anomaly has just been corroborated again in a newly released report by a human rights group, the Centre for Democracy and Development. The report, entitled, ‘Democracy Watch Reports,’ accused state actors of killing 13,241 Nigerians extrajudicially in the 10 years to 2021. That is a rate of 1,324 persons per year in needless killings by security agents. It is alarming.
Callously, it seems the political and security leadership in Nigeria think nothing of the high rate of killings by state actors. The CDD said, “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.” It partly explains the #EndSARS protests of 2020. In Nigeria, security agents compete with bloodthirsty non-state actors like Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists, bandits, and Fulani herdsmen in massacring Nigerians.
The noxious trend recurred at Ota-Efun, Osogbo, the Osun State capital, early in December when a police sergeant, Moses Samuel, killed a rig operator, Kabiru Babai, during an altercation. The same officer, who is reportedly undergoing orderly room trial, also injured a truck driver, Harisu Musa. The real tragedy of that story is that Babai was protesting the shooting of Musa when he was killed by the officer.
Early in November, a police officer that has yet to be named, killed a tricycle operator in Meiran, Lagos State, triggering the mayhem that eventually claimed three lives. That incident was sparked by a demand for a measly N100 bribe. In September, another officer reportedly shot dead a 29-year-old father of one identified only as Gift, who was marking his birthday in Obinomba, in the Ukwani Local Government Area of Delta State.
While engaged in extortion, power-drunk police officers kill innocent civilians with reckless abandon during disagreements over paltry sums. Rogue officers of the Nigeria Customs Service, especially under its current Comptroller-General, Hameed Ali, also kill recklessly. In July 2021, Customs officers invaded Igangan, Igboora, Ayete, and Tapa communities in the Ibarapa LGA of Oyo State. When the dust settled, three people lay dead. The NCS spokesman, Theophilus Duniya, alleged that the deceased were smugglers. This tenuous claim was dismissed by a federal lawmaker representing Ibarapa Central/North Federal Constituency, Oyo State, Muraina Ajibola, who argued that the communities were over 200 kilometres away from the nearest border post. In May, Customs officers had killed five people at Iseyin, in the same state. No law authorises the summary killing of smuggling suspects.
Killings that should qualify as crimes against humanity have also been perpetrated by the military. The massacre of members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria by the Nigerian Army in December 2015, where no fewer than 347 persons were killed, is unforgettable. Not only were the Shiites killed, but they were also buried in mass graves. The recommendations of the Justice Mohammed Garba-led panel that those responsible for the killings should be prosecuted have been ignored. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, other NGOs and nations have continued to call for justice to no avail.
In the South-East, the military has been reportedly killing citizens on the pretext of waging war against the Indigenous People of Biafra separatists. Many residents have reportedly been murdered by bloodthirsty soldiers without any consequence. AI reported in August that 115 people were killed in four months by security forces across Imo, Anambra, and Abia states. Another gory report in The PUNCH detailed how corpses of victims of extrajudicial killings were piled on each other at the morgue of the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, Imo State.
Why is the government not bringing these killers to book? Despite the global uproar over the killings that followed the #EndSARS protests of 2020, Washington DC-based NGO, Global Rights, tallied 164 extrajudicial killings between January and September 2021.
Lawmakers have a crucial role to play. Where there are killings, the House of Representatives members and senators from the affected constituencies should take the heads of the concerned security units to task. By regularly interrogating service chiefs and the police hierarchy, and ensuring proper accountability, sanity might return to the system.
The state governors have been negligent and uncaring. They rarely follow up when security agents kill people extrajudicially in their domain. This must change. In their utterances and interactions, governors must demonstrate that they value the lives of citizens. A governor could demand the removal of a commissioner of police under whose watch there are extrajudicial killings. For instance, the governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, should lead protests against the high rate of killings by Customs officers in Ogun.
Nigerians must also stand for their rights. Peaceful protest is a constitutional right of every Nigerian and must be responsibly deployed to decry the highhandedness of security agencies. Civil societies and rights groups should mobilise the citizenry to demand punishment for killer security personnel. Aside from the dismissal and prosecution of the culprits, their supervising and commanding officers must not be spared. United States, United Kingdom and European countries’ citizens stage civil protests, sit-ins, petitions, and lawsuits to press for justice. Liberty must be defended to be enjoyed.
The participation of the military in civil security in Nigeria is doing more harm than good. Therefore, the President, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), should restrict the military to its primary constitutional role of fighting external aggression and reform the Customs.
Extrajudicial killings persist because there is little deterrence or consequence. For a start, Nigerians must demand the implementation of the recommendations of the judicial panels of enquiries set up in the wake of the #EndSARS protest. The security agents recommended for trial must be prosecuted. Affected communities, individuals and families of victims should also seek justice through litigation.
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