U.S. Accuses Nigerian Police of Human Rights Abuses

Daily Champion (Lagos) [MORE]
By Erasmus Alaneme

UNITED States Government has accused Nigeria Police Force of killing at least 8,564 people between year 2000 and 2007. It also accused the Federal Government of human rights abuses including torture, politically-motivated extra-judicial killings, executive influence on judiciary, arbitrary arrests, prolonged pre-trial detention and restriction of freedom of speech.The allegations were contained in the 2007 Human Rights Report released Tuesday by the US Government.

It said the election of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was one that "was marred by what international and domestic observers characterized as massive fraud and serious irregularities, including vote rigging and political violence."

However, Police high command in Abuja denied the allegation, saying it lacked merit.

Speaking with Daily Champion, Force Police Public Relation Officer, Mr. Agberebi Akpoebi said "I can't respond to the allegation, particularly when they did not disclose the means through which they arrived at the conclusion, all I have to tell you is that we have one of the best human rights record in the world."

The Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) noted that Inspector-General of Police Mr. Mike Okiro had appointed senior police officers to head human rights desks in all the commands to check such abuse.

"Election tribunals, which continued at year's end, contested the results at all levels, resulting in the nullification of nine local level elections, six senatorial elections, and five gubernatorial elections. While civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces, there were some instances in which elements of the security forces acted outside the law," the report noted.

The annual report that touches all countries world over further stated that "the government's human rights record remained poor, and government officials at all levels continued to commit serious abuses.

The most significant human rights problems included the abridgement of citizens' right to change their government; politically motivated and extrajudicial killings by security forces; the use of excessive force, including torture by security forces; vigilante killings; impunity for abuses by security forces; beatings of prisoners, detainees, and suspected criminals;"

Others are "harsh and life threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and prolonged pretrial detention; executive influence on the judiciary and judicial corruption; infringement on privacy rights; restrictions on freedom of speech, press, assembly, religion, and movement; domestic violence and discrimination against women; female genital mutilation (FGM); child abuse and child sexual exploitation; societal violence; ethnic, regional, and religious discrimination; and trafficking in persons for the purpose of prostitution and forced labor." it added.

On how Nigeria fared last year, the US government lamented that the Nigerian Police killed at least 8, 564 persons between 2000 to 2007 and that up till today nothing has been done by the Nigerian government to address the issue as well as ensure that such dastard act does not repeat itself.

The report which took a swipe at the Nigeria Police noted the delay in the case of the Apo Six killing, killing of innocent civilian over demand of N20 bribe and the use of lethal force in curtailing the restiveness in the Niger Delta region.

"There were politically motivated killings by the government or its agents. National police, army, and other security forces committed extrajudicial killings and used excessive force to apprehend criminals and to disperse protesters during the year.

"Police and the armed forces were instructed to use lethal force against suspected criminals and suspected vandals near oil pipelines in the Niger Delta region.

"Multinational oil companies and domestic oil producing companies often hired private security forces and subsidized living expenses for police and soldiers from area units assigned to protect oil facilities in the volatile Niger Delta region."

"Military, former military, and freelance security forces accounted for a portion of the violent crime committed during the year.

"Police officers were not held accountable for excessive or deadly force or for the deaths of persons in custody. Police generally operated with impunity in the apprehension, illegal detention, and sometimes execution of criminal suspects. Abuses against civilians by poorly trained, poorly equipped, poorly supervised, and underpaid police were common, and the police were rarely held accountable"

"On November 14, the new Inspector General of Police (IGP) announced official statistics showing that 785 suspected "armed robbers" had died in encounters with police in the three months since his tenure began. IGP Mike Okiro reported that 62 officers had been killed during the same time frame while attempting to apprehend suspected armed robbers. The statistics also indicated that police killed at least 8,564 persons between 2000 and October 2007."

"Violence and lethal force at unauthorized police and military roadblocks and checkpoints continued during the year, despite multiple announcements by the IGP that independent police roadblocks would be eliminated. Police generally ignored the orders. Security forces were known to kill persons while trying to extort money from them. For example, on November 8, a police officer in Anambra State shot and killed 15-year-old Daniel Offiali and wounded six other bus passengers after the driver refused to pay a $0.16 (N20) bribe. The police officer was reportedly dismissed from the National Police Force and arrested, but at year's end the status of the case was unknown"

"There were no developments in the June 2006 case in which Delta State police officers beat Peter Osimiri and left him for dead when he refused to pay a $156 (N20,000) bribe, or in the December 2006 case in which police officers in the FCT outside Abuja shot and killed a driver who refused to pay a $0.16 (20 naira) bribe"

"The murder, trial of a Delta State police officer who in 2005 shot and killed a commercial bus driver who was unable to pay a bribe had not begun by year's end.

The trial of six police officers from the Apo Area continued, although with frequent and extended adjournments. Police and military personnel used excessive force and sometimes deadly force in the suppression of civil unrest, property vandalism, and inter-ethnic violence" the report added

Speaking on the report, US Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice stated that many people globally work to secure human rights and fundamental freedoms, to follow their consciences and speak their minds without fear, to choose those who would govern them and to hold their leaders accountable and to achieve equal justice under the law.

Rice, however, noted that "these aspirations, though common to all of us, are unfortunately still denied to millions worldwide, often by their own governments. In too many countries, champions of human rights are denounced and persecuted, vilified as traitors or targeted for repression - just for insisting upon the freedoms enshrined in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights"

According to her "In other countries, even in those that have recently begun transitions to democracy, human rights are not fully secured, perhaps because of weak institutions or corruption, which undermine the rule of law, perhaps because of conflict or insecurity, which intrude upon the liberty of individuals, or perhaps because of crushing poverty and disease, which can cause even the most stalwart citizens to lose hope that their lives will improve"