By Augustine Osayande
About 1.7 million people internally displaced by Boko Haram crisis are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance in the north eastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe. This was disclosed in 2017 annual report of Amnesty International.
The International organization also revealed that Boko Haram killed 411 people in at least 65 attacks in 2017. It stated that the group continues to carry out abductions of women, girls and men in the north eastern states. “Boko Haram is still committing crimes by carrying out suicide bombings targeted at civilians as well as abduction of women, girls and children. Over a million victims of the crisis are living in camps across and beyond the northeast and they are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance,” said Osai Ojigho Director Amnesty International Nigeria.
Ojigho further stated that the military arbitrarily arrested and held thousands of young men, women and children in detention centres around the country. “Detainees were denied access to lawyers and family members. At least 340 died in custody. In August, a presidential investigation panel was set up to probe allegations of human rights violations carried out by the military. This was followed by mass trial of Boko Haram suspects in Kainji military facility” Ojigho added.
The director said states across Nigeria are confronted by spate of inter-communal violence between herdsmen and farmers leading to the death of more than 549 people. “The Nigerian authorities’ response to this violence is totally inadequate, too slow and ineffective, and in some cases unlawful. The government must totally overturn its response to these deadly clashes to avoid this crisis getting out of control and claiming more lives. They need to investigate and bring suspects to justice ” said Ojigho
The organization further stated that at least 5,000 people were forcibly evicted from Otodo Gbame and Ilubirin waterfront communities in Lagos state in violation of previous Lagos State High Court orders between March and April 2017. “The orders restrained state authorities from demolishing the homes of affected communities consisting of 300,000 residents. Apart from violating court orders by going ahead to carry out forced evictions, during the forced eviction of Otodo Gbame on April 9 last year, at least two people were shot, one fatally, as police fired at unarmed protesters,” said Ojigho.
It said Nigerian security agencies continued to violently, disrupt peaceful protests. “The police continued to deny Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), which was banned by the Kaduna state government in 2016, the right to peaceful assembly. The IMN leader has been in detention for over two years despite a court ruling ordering his immediate release. Journalists and bloggers face harassment and intimidation largely from security agencies. On 19 January security personnel raided the offices of Premium Times and arrested Dapo Olorunyomi and Evelyn Okakwu after the Chief of Army Staff accused the newspaper of offensive publications. Expressing personal opinion on social media is becoming dangerous. On 19 September, the Katsina state police arrested three bloggers, Jamil Mabai, Bashir Dauda and Umar Faruq, for criticizing the Governor. Bashir Dauda and Umar Faruq were released after one week and Jamil Mabai was detained for 22 days” the 2017 annual report also revealed.
