The group Amnesty International has accused Nigerian Military and Police of torture and other ill-treatments of suspects and other innocent Nigerians.
This is continued in its 409-page 2016/17 Report titled “The State of the World’s Human Rights” and read by the Chairman Trustees of the AI and the Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) Auwal Musa.
The Nigeria segment of the report said that the police and military continued to commit torture and other ill-treatment during the interrogation of suspects or detainees to extract information and confessions.
“The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the police frequently committed torture and other ill-treatment during interrogations. In September, the Inspector General of the police warned SARS against committing torture and encouraged them to follow due process of law,” it said.
It added that on 18 May 2016, Chibuike Edu died in police custody after he was arrested for burglary and detained for two weeks by the SARS in Enugu, and that while the police authorities were investigating the incident, no one had been held accountable for his death at the end of the year.
It regretted that the National Assembly was yet to pass the anti-torture bill which seeks to further prohibit and criminalize torture into law since June when it passed its first reading in the Senate.
“It had earlier been passed by the House of Representatives and was revised by the Nigeria Law Reform Commission. The revised version was to be debated at the Senate,” the report said.
The organisation also said that one Chijioke Mba on 3 April was arrested and detained by the anti-kidnapping unit of the police force in Enugu for belonging to an unlawful society and that his family and lawyer had not seen him since May.
“On 16 August, Sunday Chucks Obasi was abducted from his home in Amuko Nnewi, Anambra state, by five armed men suspected to be Nigerian security agents in a vehicle with a government registration number plate. Witnesses said he was injured during the incident. His whereabouts remained unknown,” it added.
It said that the military was deployed in 30 out of Nigeria’s 36 states and in the FCT where they performed routine policing functions including responding to non-violent demonstrations.
“The military deployment to police public gatherings contributed to the number of extrajudicial executions and unlawful killings,” the report stated.
