Last week saw the publication of Human Rights Watch’s World Report for 2024, focusing on the past year. The section on Nigeria highlighted the country’s decline into failed statehood.
Key commentary is reproduced below focusing on areas such as election-related violence, violence in the northwest and northcentral regions, separatist agitation in the southeast, the Boko Haram conflict, abuses by security forces, accountability for serious crimes, freedom of expression, poverty and inequality, etc.
Former Governor of Lagos State Bola Ahmed Tinubu emerged as the winner of Nigeria’s closely watched February 2023 presidential election. Despite repeated calls to Nigerian authorities to prioritize accountability for past elections-related abuses and address widespread insecurity, the February elections were blighted by incidents of logistical failures and violence at the polls.
Multiple armed groups continue to kill and jeopardize the livelihood of millions across the country. In the Northwest, gangs of so-called bandits carry out widespread killings, kidnappings, sexual violence, and lootings, while in the Northeast, there has been a resurgence of attacks by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a breakout faction of Boko Haram.
Decades long intercommunal conflict between farmers and herders in the Middle Belt and Northcentral region continue to claim lives, while the authorities struggle to contain the clashes around land and other resources, which are exacerbated by ethnic and religious tensions.
In their responses to the security crisis across the country, security forces continue to be implicated in gross human rights abuses, including indiscriminate airstrikes, while the authorities have repeatedly failed to hold officers responsible for the abuses accountable through the justice system.
High rates of inflation due to the removal of a subsidy on petrol, among other factors, gave rise to an increase in multidimensional poverty and economic inequality. The high inflation rate undermined access to food and other necessities in a country where millions live in extreme poverty without a functional social protection system.
Election-related violence
According to the Centre for Democracy and Development, a nongovernmental organisation (NGO), a total of 109 election-related deaths were recorded across Nigeria in the build-up to the 2023 general elections.
The presidential and federal legislative elections recorded several incidences of violence at the polls, especially in battleground states like Lagos. Voters were exposed to violence by people referred to as “thugs” acting for, or on, behalf of politicians and political parties.
In some cases, voters were injured and stripped of their right to vote without any intervention from security forces.
Violence in the northwest and northcentral regions
In the Northwest, armed gangs of “bandits” continue to carry out widespread killings, kidnappings, sexual violence, and lootings. In February, a bloody confrontation between local vigilantes and bandits led to the killing of over 100 people in Katsina State. In April, at least 80 people, mostly women and children, were kidnapped by bandit gangs in Zamfara State. In July, a video surfaced online where four female college students, whom they had abducted six months earlier, begged the government to pay their ransom so they would not be married off by the bandits.
Intercommunal violence between farmers and herders in the Northcentral region also recorded a high number of deaths. In May, over 100 people were killed in Plateau State. The violence was reportedly in reprisal for farmers killing a herder after he and his cattle had encroached on their land.
A March report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) documented a total of 1,190,293 internally displaced people in 191,688 households across the 8 states in the Northcentral and Northwest regions because of violence.
Separatist agitations in the southeast region
An ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives investigating communal clashes in Abia State called for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a group agitating for the secession of the Southeast region. Kanu was discharged and acquitted of treason and terrorism-related charges by Nigeria’s Court of Appeal, but he remains in custody following a further appeal to the Supreme Court by the federal government to challenge this decision.
States in the Southeast sought to put an end to the “sit at home order,” introduced by IPOB in 2021, which required citizens in the region to stay at home and for public places to stay closed on Mondays and any other day that is announced, including days Kanu is set to appear in court. Although IPOB says it has suspended the order, gunmen seeking to enforce it continue to kill, maim, and destroy properties of citizens in the region who defy it.
In Enugu, the state government sealed some commercial banks and shops for allegedly observing the Monday sit-at-home order.
Boko Haram conflict
Communities in Borno State, the epicenter of the Boko Haram conflict, witnessed a resurgence in attacks and kidnappings by armed groups. In March, over 30 fishermen and farmers were gruesomely killed in an attack in Ngala Local Government Area. In June, about 36 people, including farmers, were killed in Dambo, Jere, and Mafa Local Government Areas.
According to a media report, ISWAP, a prominent breakout faction of Boko Haram, imposed a ban on farming, fishing, and herding activities in Marte Local Government Area. The move to halt agricultural activities was apparently to punish the farming communities for spying on them for the military, which carried out aerial bombardment against ISWAP.
Abuses by security forces
In January, an erroneous military airstrike in Nasarawa State killed 39 people and injured 6 others. Since 2017, over 300 people are reported to have been killed by airstrikes that the Nigerian air force claimed were intended for bandits or members of Boko Haram and its breakout factions but instead hit civilians. In 2022, the Nigerian air force announced an investigation into accidental airstrikes on civilians but provided no further details.
In July, anti-police brutality protests erupted in Anambra State, following the death of Chidubem Ezenwa in police custody, after allegedly being beaten by police operatives and other inmates. Police said the inmates who beat him up have been arraigned for murder.
Accountability for serious crimes
In February, the National Human Rights Commission began an investigation into allegations of forced abortions and infanticide in the Northeast Boko Haram conflict, but it has yet to produce its findings.
Domestic trials for hundreds of Boko Haram suspects have remained postponed since 2018.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) Office of the Prosecutor continued to consider whether to open an investigation into serious crimes committed in Nigeria and indicated plans to decide in 2024.
Freedom of expression and media
In May, a Nigerian Court found that the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), the country’s broadcast regulator, has no power to impose fines on broadcast stations. In April, NBC had fined Channels Television 5 million Nigerian naira (about US$6,500) for allegedly violating the NBC code in a program during which a vice presidential candidate called on the authorities not to swear in Bola Tinubu.
Although the Nigerian Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of expression, thought, and conscience, insult to religion remains a criminal offense and Sharia (Islamic law), applicable in 12 northern states, criminalizes blasphemy.
Blasphemy-related accusations and killings remain a concern in northern Nigeria. In June, Usman Buda was attacked and killed by a mob in Sokoto State for alleged blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed.
Poverty and Inequality
President Tinubu announced the removal of an existing subsidy on fuel during his inauguration in May, resulting in increases in the price of food and other basic necessities. The authorities did not put in any measures to cushion the impact of the petrol subsidy removal, leaving many Nigerians struggling to meet the basic needs of themselves and their families.
The ability of communities to fish and farm continues to be stunted by rampant oil spills while the costs to public health is worsened by oil pollution and the ongoing practice of excessive gas flaring.
In August, President Tinubu announced a $650 million package that included funds to allow for a review of the minimum wage; support for small and medium businesses; and the purchase of gas-powered buses to reduce the cost of transportation, among other things.
