Nigeria 2015: analysis of election issues and future prospects

Human rights²²⁶

Nigeria’s record on the protection of human rights since independence in 1960 has been poor. Numerous commentators and academics have argued that the authoritarian legacy of British colonialism is crucial in understanding why this has been so.²²⁷

Brutality and corruption

The police and army have characteristically displayed high levels of brutality and corruption.

A series of military coups were accompanied by the suspension of those parts of the Constitution which guaranteed basic rights. During these periods, many hundreds of political critics, journalists and civil society activists were harassed and detained; some paid with their lives.

The treatment of detainees and prisoners by the authorities has often been harsh, with many instances of torture or ill-treatment documented. The scale and extent of abuses has tended to reduce under civilian governments but by much less than many might have hoped.

Elections have almost invariably been flawed and accompanied by significant levels of violence.

Impunity the norm

For the politically powerful and for state operatives, impunity has been the norm, whether in connection with abuse of power or allegations of large-scale corruption.²²⁸

Since the 1970s, elites have become heavily involved in what Nigerians call ‘bunkering’ – in essence, the theft of Nigeria’s oil production.²²⁹ While the judicial system has never been entirely captured by the executive branch and has at times exhibited some independence, it has often failed to uphold the rule of law, whether due to political pressure or its own inadequacies.²³⁰

On the positive side, Nigeria’s print (and, more recently, some broadcast) media has always been remarkably vibrant, if often also partisan, and there has been an abundance of courageous civil society activists trying to hold the authorities to account in hazardous circumstances.

Positive developments since 1999

The human rights situation has improved in some respects since the country returned to civilian rule in 1999 under President Olusegun Obasanjo. For example, the independence and effectiveness of the judiciary has increased, although there are concerns about corruption within its ranks, as overall has that of statutory oversight bodies such as the National Human Rights Commission, the Independent Electoral Commission and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.²³¹

The influence of the army over politics has also reduced, although ‘retired’ military figures retain considerable power and influence.

Ethnic and religious violence since 1999

In other respects the human rights situation has arguably stagnated or deteriorated since 1999. There are an estimated 3.3 million internally displaced people in Nigeria.²³² In the states of the ‘Middle Belt’, many hundreds of thousands have died in regular outbreaks of ethnic and religious violence over the last decade or so, often at the hands of private militias and armed groups.²³³ For example, Nassarawa state has been severely affected by such violence in recent years.²³⁴ It is often claimed that these entities are backed by rival politicians.

Insurgency and terrorism in the Niger Delta and north-east

The Niger Delta and north-east Nigeria have both been heavily affected by armed insurgencies and terrorism over the last decade or so, with the situation in the latter part of the country reaching crisis proportions since 2010 as a result of attacks by the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram. An amnesty programme has calmed the situation in the Niger Delta in recent years but the region remains volatile.

Figures on the scale of civilian fatalities at the hands of Boko Haram are difficult to verify.

Below is a chart produced by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project which shows a strongly upward trend in the number of civilian deaths at the hands of Boko Haram since late 2010.²³⁵

The figure most commonly cited for the number of people who have died in Nigeria during 2014 as a result of attacks by Boko Haram has been over 2,000 people.²³⁶ However, according to the Nigeria Security Tracker website, that figure is likely to have been much higher.

Nigeria Security Tracker estimates that in 2014 over 10,000 people died from violence linked to Boko Haram’s activities across the three north-eastern states where a state of emergency currently operates (Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states), with about 80% of that total occurring in Borno state. Although a significant proportion of those who died during 2014 did so at the hands of state actors and allied vigilante groups (see below), Boko Haram is identified by the website as by some distance the largest single identifiable perpetrator.²³⁷

The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project says that 3,428 civilians were killed by Boko Haram in north-east Nigeria during 2014.²³⁸ The UK Government says that over 4,000 people were killed by the group in the course of the year.²³⁹

About 1.5 million people in the north-east have also been displaced by the violence.²⁴⁰ In November 2014, there were over 50,000 Internally Displaced People in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, alone.²⁴¹

Boko Haram has attacked schools, forcing many in the three states worst-affected to close The Nigerian authorities have been heavily criticised for their ineffective response to the kidnapping of schoolchildren by Boko Haram; an estimated 219 of the 270 schoolgirls kidnapped by the group in April 2014 in the small town of Chibok, Borno state, remain in captivity.

Boko Haram has attacked churches and mosques. In November 2014, over 100 people died following explosions at the Central Mosque in Kano.

Meanwhile, the army has killed many hundreds of people in retaliatory operations, with Amnesty International asserting that it is implicated in war crimes and Human Rights Watch describing it as “almost as evil” as Boko Haram itself.²⁴²

In November 2014 there were media reports that 18 men accused of being members of Boko Haram and taken into custody in the town of Potiskum by soldiers had been found dead several hours later.²⁴³ A few days later, a suicide bomber killed at least 47 school children attending an assembly in the same town.²⁴⁴

The most notorious part of the security forces has been the Joint Task Force, which brings together the military, the police and the security services. Although it was disbanded in 2013, many of its commanders and units remained in place.

Civilian vigilante groups, set up in part due to the failure of the security forces to provide much protection to ordinary Nigerians from Boko Haram attacks, have also been responsible for serious abuses.²⁴⁵

Police abuses

The police have been accused of killing “thousands each year.”²⁴⁶ Amnesty International recently claimed that “torture and other ill-treatment are routine practices in criminal investigations across Nigeria”, including for the purpose of extracting ‘confessions’.²⁴⁷ The human rights group alleges that many police stations have “torture chambers” and some have an officer unofficially known as “O/C Torture”.

Levels of torture and ill-treatment by the police have reportedly increased dramatically in the north in recent years.²⁴⁸

Homophobia

Homophobia is dominant across all levels of Nigerian society.²⁴⁹ Homosexual acts are illegal in Nigeria. In January 2014, President Jonathan signed a law which further increased the criminal penalties for homosexuality.²⁵⁰

Election violence

The 2007 presidential and legislative elections were described by one writer as an “election-like event”, reflecting widespread concerns about fraud and low-level violence. The 2011 elections were then followed by “the worst outbreak of post-electoral violence since the civil war”.²⁵¹ As the 2015 elections draw closer, levels of election-related violence are again on the increase.

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