Amnesty International says clashes between farmers and herdsmen have resulted in at least 168 deaths in 2018 alone.
In
a statement on Monday, Osai Ojigho, director of Amnesty International
Nigeria said “the Nigerian authorities’ response to communal violence is
totally inadequate, too slow and ineffective, and in some cases
unlawful.”
“Clashes
between herdsmen and farmers in Adamawa, Benue, Taraba, Ondo and Kaduna
have resulted in 168 deaths in January 2018 alone,” Ojigho said.
“Hundreds
of people lost their lives last year, and the government is still not
doing enough to protect communities from these violent clashes. Worse,
the killers are getting away with murder.”
“In
2017, clashes between nomadic herdsmen and local farmers resulted in at
least 549 deaths and thousands displaced across Enugu, Benue, Taraba,
Zamfara, Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Cross Rivers,
Adamawa, Katsina, Delta and Ekiti states,” she said.
“The
government must totally overturn its response to these deadly clashes
to avoid this crisis getting out of control. They need to investigate
and bring suspects to justice.”
The statement read: “The
frequent deployment of soldiers has resulted in many cases of excessive
use of force, unlawful killings and extrajudicial executions throughout
the country.
“The
Nigerian military is currently performing security operations in 30 out
of Nigeria’s 36 states and the federal capital territory, often taking
over routine policing duties.
“The
government’s reliance on the military for help in handling what should
be public order situations has also seriously undermined the role of the
Nigerian police.
“In
some cases where the Nigerian security agencies did respond to communal
violence, they used excessive or unlawful force resulting in even more
deaths and destruction.
“On
4 December 2017, Nigeria’s air force sent fighter jets to fire rockets
at villages as a “warning” to deter spiraling communal violence, as
hundreds of herdsmen attacked at least five villages in Adamawa state to
avenge the massacre of up to 51 members of their community, mostly
children, the previous month in Kikan.
“An
Amnesty International team visited the villages in the aftermath of the
air raids and gathered witness testimony from residents who described
being attacked by a fighter jet and a military helicopter as they
attempted to flee.
“Launching
air raids is not a legitimate law enforcement method by anyone’s
standard. Such reckless use of deadly force is unlawful, outrageous and
lays bare the Nigerian military’s shocking disregard for the lives of
those it supposedly exists to protect.
“This
is unlawful and excessive force on a catastrophic scale. It is yet
another tragic example where Nigeria’s armed forces are found applying
deadly military tactics to law enforcement situations.
“As
the herdsmen shot people and torched homes, and the air raid resulted
in fire, it was not possible to establish how much of the death and
destruction was a direct result of the air attacks or attributable to
the attack by herdsmen.
“Houses
started burning. Children started running for their lives. Mothers
packed up their children and escaped with them. We men were unable to
fight back and we started running too. This jet burnt our houses and
properties to ashes.
“In
some villages, the rocket attacks happened at the same time as the
herders raids, while in other villages the air force arrived shortly
afterwards, witnesses told Amnesty International.
“Locals in each village also provided Amnesty International with lists of the dead, which totaled 86 names.
“The
Nigerian authorities must investigate these attacks and, where these
investigations indicate criminal responsibility, prosecute those
responsible and bring them to justice.”
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