Post-Election Violence - Over 800 persons lost their lives during the recent post-election violence in some parts of northern Nigeria, Human Rights Watch said yesterday. It added that the victims were killed in three days of rioting in 12 northern states. In its recently published results on its website, the rights group called on the federal government to promptly investigate and prosecute those who orchestrated and carried out the crimes as well as address the root causes of recurring inter-communal violence. The group said the violence began as a result of widespread protests by supporters of the main opposition candidate,

Muhammadu Buhari of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), following the re-election of incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, the candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The protests, it said, degenerated into violent riots or sectarian killings in the northern states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Niger, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara states. Relief officials estimate that more than 65,000 people have been displaced, it added.

"The April elections were heralded as among the fairest in Nigeria's history, but they also were among the bloodiest," said Corinne Dufka, senior West Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The newly elected authorities should quickly build on the democratic gains from the elections by bringing to justice those who orchestrated these horrific crimes and address the root causes of the violence, said the human rights watchdog.

"The protesters started burning tyres, and the protests soon turned into riots. The rioting quickly degenerated into sectarian and ethnic bloodletting across the northern states. Muslim rioters targeted and killed persons who were perceived to have supported the ruling party, burning shops, and homes. The rioters also attacked police stations and ruling party and electoral commission offices," the reports stated.

The group said that in the predominantly Christian towns and villages of southern Kaduna State, including Zonkwa, Matsirga, and Kafanchan, sectarian clashes left more than 500 dead, according to Muslim and Christian leaders interviewed.

Human Rights Watch conducted more than 55 interviews with witnesses and victims of the violence, Christian and Muslim clergy, traditional leaders, police officials, civil society leaders, and journalists. Researchers also conducted telephone interviews with witnesses of the violence in Bauchi, Gombe, Kano, and Zamfara states.

"In many of the northern towns and cities, Christians found refuge in police stations and military barracks. In southern Kaduna State, Muslim women and children flocked to police stations for safety. The police successfully protected people in many cases, but they were largely ineffective at controlling the rioting and violence in other places, Human Rights Watch found. In several cases, witnesses told Human Rights Watch that it was often not until soldiers were deployed to affected areas that the violence was halted.

"Both the police and the military were implicated in the excessive use of force and other serious abuses while responding to the rioting and sectarian violence. Human Rights Watch documented eight cases of alleged unlawful killing of unarmed residents by the police and soldiers in the cities of Zaria and Kaduna, and received credible reports of more than a dozen other incidents.

"Human Rights Watch also received credible reports that the police and soldiers in Kaduna, Gombe, and Bauchi states systematically beat people rounded up during or after the riots. Many of the detainees charged at the Chief Magistrate's Court in Kaduna city had fresh scars on their backs, journalists who attended the hearing told Human Rights Watch. In the town of Azare, in northern Bauchi State, witnesses told Human Rights Watch that detainees were severely beaten by soldiers and police. One of the detainees' hands was reportedly broken, while another detainee was hospitalized as a result of the beatings.

"The Nigerian authorities should promptly investigate these credible reports of unlawful killings and other abuses by members of the security. The use of violence by rioters, mobs, and state actors alike needs to be stopped," the report stated.

Stanley Nkwocha

Leadership/17/05/2011