NIGERIA. Abuja: Not less than 13,241 unarmed Nigerians have been reportedly killed in the past 10 years, an international human rights organisation, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) revealed.
The CDD Director Idayat Hassan made this known to the newsmen in Abuja in a report titled; Democracy Watch Reports.
Hassan noted that security operatives who are supposed to protect the lives and properties of the country are the ones involved in the extrajudicial killings. Killings by the state actors have become the primary cause of death in the country, Hassan added.
This is sad as the killing of innocent citizens by the security forces in the country since 1999 is not seen as a big deal anymore and this has affected many lives, Hassan said.
However, it is more regrettable that the perpetrators of the act always go unpunished because of the immunity enjoyed by the security forces “Order 237”, which allows officers to use lethal force in ways that violate international law, with government corruption and a prevailing culture of impunity supporting this.
Successive governments in Nigeria have used unlawful killings to quell secessionist upheavals and terrorist activities, a practice that was exacerbated during President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure, such as the unlawful killing of 350 Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) members by the Nigerian army in 2015, she added.
This is inappropriate, i.e. the state actors are in one involved in the killings and it has developed to become the main reason for the many loss of lives. Hassan added that more than 70 per cent of persons in Nigeria prison are people legally detained waiting for trial. And above 20 per cent are also awaiting trial for more than a year.
“I noticed the emerging trend on the security operatives working according to order from the above to keep some Nigerians in detention above their required time,” Hassan said.
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