Group Seeks UN Intervention over Human Rights Situation in Nigeria
A coalition of human rights and rule of law groups based in Nigeria, has called for urgent intervention of the United Nations in the serious and rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in Nigeria.
The group, in a letter addressed to the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. António Guterres, stated that it was compelled by extreme necessity to write the letter, because if the UN and the international community fail to act on the issue now, Nigeria’s already grave human rights and security situation may worsen calamitously, putting planned elections early next year in some jeopardy.
According to the coalition, Nigeria’s military forces over the last four years, committed widespread and massive atrocities against civilian populations and members of minority religious and political organisations, adding that these atrocities are continuing and intensifying with much blood shed and people killed each time they occur.
“On Saturday, October 27th, 2018, during a public protest in Zuba, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory, several mem-
bers of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) were shot and killed by Nigeria’s military forces. The Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) (also known as Shiites),are a Moslem minority group in Nigeria, who have, over the course of many years, been the targets of a sustained military offensive, that has resulted in the killing, between 2014 and 2018, of over a thousand of its members by Nigeria’s military in extrajudicial circumstances. The IMN are not a terror group; they have frequently held public protests to press for the release of their leader, Sheik El Zakzaky and his wife, both of whom have been held by the Government, in incommunicado detention since 2015, in spite of judicial orders directing their immediate release.
“The Military, in a media statement after the October 27 incident, alleged that the members of the sect had hurled stones at a military convoy transporting ammunition, “with the intention of overpowering the convoy and hijacking the weapons”.
“On Monday, 29th October, 2018, less than forty-eight hours after the initial altercation, Nigeria’s military operatives, again, opened fire on a procession of members of the IMN in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, killing many protesters. IMN members had been undertaking a religious procession tagged “Arbaeen2018” (a religious observance), at the time they were attacked. In another Press Statement, the Army stated that IMN members “… while wielding dangerous weapons, had overrun and orchestrated a breach of several security checkpoints deployed by the army to checkmate the Shiites”. Amnesty International has said that its investigation of the two incidents showed “… that the horrific use of excessive force by Soldiers and Police, led to the killing of at least 45 supporters of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) over two days…””, the group stated.
The coalition specifically urged the Secretary-General, to use his good offices to engage with the Nigerian Government, raise these concerns, and consider a visit to Nigeria.
“We urge you to bring the precarious situation of Nigeria’s brutal atrocities against a religious minority group, to the attention of the United Nations mechanisms, and specifically, to: Place the situation of Nigeria’s military Forces’ killings of Shiite members, before the Security Council of the United Nations.
“Urge the Security Council, to demand that the Government of Nigeria takes urgent and specific steps to end the impunity of its security forces, and particularly to demand that its military forces refrain from using deadly, and disproportionate force against peaceful protesters.
“Appoint a high-powered Investigation mission to Nigeria, to inquire into the military’s conduct with reference to the members of Shiites/other groups”, the group added.