By Osai Ojigho and Chuka Arinze-Onyia
It has been two years since young Nigerians protesting police brutality and corruption by the infamous Special Anti-Robbery Squad were violently attacked and killed by the police and military across the country, and yet there has been no accountability. This is despite the fact that there is ample and documented evidence of the gruesome brutality perpetrated on peaceful protesters by members of the security forces across the country.
The brutal attack of protesters by the Nigerian authorities is part of a current trend of governments across the world attacking protesters in their bid to silence dissenting voices. Protesters in Cameroon, Senegal, and most recently, Iran, have been met with all sorts of violence and excessive force, and many have been killed as a direct result of the violence deployed by state actors.
Noting
this often bloody crackdown on protests in several countries across the world,
including Nigeria, Amnesty International recently launched a campaign to
‘Protect the Protest,’ which recognised that “the right to protest is under
unprecedented and growing threat across all regions of the world”, thereby
seeking “to confront states widening and intensifying efforts to erode this
fundamental human right.” The campaign reaffirms that there is an international
human right to protest, which is enshrined in most regional and international
treaties. This right is not a separately given right but one based on the
exercise of multiple rights, including the rights to freedom of expression and
peaceful assembly. These rights are protected as fundamental human rights
by the 1999 Constitution and in various international treaties such as the
African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights to which Nigeria is a state party.
Despite
the constitutional protection of the right to protest, Nigeria has an abysmal
record of violently repressing protests and silencing dissent. In its very
recent history, the Nigerian security forces, including the military, have
attacked and killed several protesters, including the over 350 Shia Muslims who
were shot at for blocking a road during their procession in Zaria in December
2015. Subsequent protests by members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria,
demanding the release of their leader, Ibraheem Yaqub El Zakzaky, who was
unlawfully detained by the Federal Government in spite of a court-ordered
release, led to the death of some protesters. Similarly, Nigerian security
forces attacked and killed over 150 members of the now proscribed pro-Biafran
organisation called the Indigenous People of Biafra during peaceful assemblies.
Nigeria’s brutal and often fatal attack of individuals exercising the right to
protest is concerning given the constitutional guarantee of the right.
When
on October 8, 2020 young Nigerians, starting from Lagos and eventually
spreading to other parts of the country, took to the streets to peacefully call
for immediate police reforms, and importantly demand the disbandment of
SARS, the Nigerian government reacted as it always had, with brute force.
Rather than listen to the demands of the protesters and engage them in
meaningful dialogue or at the very least, respect their constitutional right to
protest, the government chose to violently repress the protest. The government
deployed thugs to stir up violence and attack the protesters. Security forces
across the country were recorded to have utilised excessive force against
protesters. Some protesters were arrested and detained unlawfully for long
periods, while being denied access to lawyers. And many were killed by security
forces, including the police and military. Amnesty International estimates that
at least 56 persons lost their lives during the ENDSARS protest.
The climax of the government’s brutality against protesters occurred on the
night of October 20, 2020, when the military was deployed to the Lekki Toll
gate in Lagos. Amnesty’s investigation revealed that no less than 12 persons
were killed by the military that night in Lagos at two different locations.
This determination by Amnesty is substantially corroborated by the report of
the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS
Related Abuses and other Matters, which was authorised to investigate the
events of that night in Lagos. The panel’s report found that of the 41
casualties that night, eleven were confirmed dead, another 4 were missing and
presumed dead, and the rest suffered from gunshot injuries, stampede
injuries and other forms of assault by the military and police. The report
concluded that the security forces picked up the bullets and cleaned the site
in a bid to destroy evidence and cover up their crimes. The panel found that
Nigerian security forces “injured and killed unarmed, helpless and defenceless
protesters without provocation or justification while they were waving the
Nigerian flag and singing the National Anthem. The manner of assault and
killing could in context be described as a massacre.”
The
very brutal clampdown on protesters did not happen only in Lagos. Amnesty
International estimates that no less than 38 persons lost their lives across
the country on October 20, 2020.
Though
the panel’s report provides a conclusive confirmation that the Nigerian government
violently attacked and killed peaceful ENDSARS protesters,
there has been no effort till date by the government to hold the perpetrators
of the violence accountable for their actions and ensure justice for the
protesters. There is no record of prosecutions carried out on the basis of the
recommendations by the panel or any other independent investigation carried out
by the government.
This is in
tandem with Nigeria’s perverse culture of impunity for members of its security
forces when they commit serious crimes, including attacking and killing
peaceful protesters. Members of the Nigerian security forces who attacked and
killed IPOB protesters have not been made to face any kind of justice, despite
the overwhelming evidence that these crimes were committed. Also, no member of
the Nigerian security forces was held accountable for the killings of Shia
Muslims in Northern Nigeria.
This
culture of impunity is not only limited to when members of the security forces
violently repress protests. In 2018 Amnesty International found that the
Nigerian government was “willingly unable” to prosecute members of its military
responsible for crimes under international law, including crimes against
humanity committed against civilians in the North-East region. The Office
of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court came to a similar
conclusion in 2020 when they found that the Nigerian military was unwilling to
hold its officers accountable for their crimes.
This
guarantee of impunity for members of the Nigerian military and police force is
set to continue unless the government ensures accountability for the
perpetrators of violence against protesters during the ENDSARS protests
in Nigeria. This kind of impunity puts all protesters at the risk of suffering
violence at the hands of security forces as the members of the security forces
are essentially assured that there will be no consequence for violating the
human rights of peaceful protesters.
The
consequence of this impunity is that the nation’s security forces will continue
to brutalise and kill protesters and other civilians with the guarantee that
they will not be held accountable for their crimes. On April 5, 2021, two
protesters, Larry Emmanuel and Victor Anene Udoka, were tortured for protesting
corruption and the poor state of human rights in the country. They were
unlawfully detained for 72 days before being granted bail. There have been
other instances of the government barring protests and peaceful assembly.
It
is time for Nigeria to take necessary steps to end impunity and demonstrate its
willingness to protect the rights of its citizens, including the right to
protest and express dissent. To this end, it is mandatory for the government to
ensure that members of its security forces, who were involved in the brutal
repression of the ENDSARS protests, are
held accountable for their actions.
Nigeria
must show commitment to preserve the right to peaceful protests by prosecuting
military and police officers when they attack peaceful protesters. The
government must also ensure that victims of government’s sanctioned attempts to
repress protests have access to effective remedies, including adequate
compensation, restitution and guarantee of non-repetition.
*Ojigho is
the Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, while Arinze-Onyia is Amnesty
International’s International Justice in Africa Fellow.
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