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Amnesty International has raised alarm for the continuous denial of justice for the victims of the brutality of the police during the #endbadgovernance protests held between 1 August and 10 August 2024, through several northern states in Nigeria.
In a declaration issued on Thursday to mark a year after national events against difficulty and bad governance, the group of rights accused the Nigerian authorities of protecting the security agents responsible for illegal murders, torture and arbitrary arrests.
The national director of Amnesty International, Isa Sanusi, revealed that at least 24 peaceful demonstrators were killed to death by the police in Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Borno, Niger and Kaduna.
“A year later, an official single was not held responsible. This clear lack of justice strengthens only impunity,” he said.
The organization said that the victims were targeted with live ammunition at close range, often shot in the head or torso, and many others have undergone inhalation of tear gas or serious torture during detention.
He mentioned the case of minors tried before the Federal Court of Abuja who collapsed due to hunger while he was in custody. He also sentenced what he described as “Sham tests” based on the “fake accusations” used to condemn the protesters in various states.
In Maiduguri, in the state of Borno, seven young people – some of only 14 years old – were sentenced on charges of forming a group of protest on WhatsApp and presumably planning to take weapons against the government.
While the children received punishments such as drinking and service to the community, adults were sentenced to five years of imprisonment.
Processes similar to Abuja are underway, in which the demonstrators are pursued by alleged incitement to the amount, asking for a military acquisition and singing “Tinubu must go”.
Sanusi observed that these actions are part of a wider trend of suppressing dissent and criminalizing the peaceful assembly. “Not being able to consider the police responsible for these horrible abuse shows the total contempt of the Nigerian government for human rights,” he said.
Amnesty invited the government to immediately abandon all the accusations against the peaceful demonstrators and start credible investigations on the killings and cases of torture.
The #endbadgovernance protests, largely guided by the young Nigerians, have been triggered by the increase in inflation, unemployment and inspessiveness of the government perceived, arousing unrest at national level and a heavy repression by the security forces.
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