Global rights monitor, the Human Rights Watch, has described as a failure, the emergency rule in three states in the North-East.
President Goodluck Jonathan had in May 2013 imposed emergency rule in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states as a strategic measure to end the Boko Haram insurgency there.
The HRW, in its ‘2014 World Report’ published on Tuesday, said the emergency rule had “failed to curb atrocities and to sufficiently protect civilians.”
The publication of the report, a review of human rights practices around the world, came barely a day after the newly appointed Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, vowed that the military would smoke out Boko Haram insurgents before April.
But just before Badeh spoke, the insurgents struck again in Borno State, killing no fewer than 18 people.
In the latest report, the New York, United States-based HWR, also said that “more than 400 died in 2013 from violent inter-communal conflict in Middle Belt states and scores rendered homeless.”
According to the rights group, “security forces throughout the country engaged in human rights abuses.”
Besides, the report which had nine sub-titles, noted that “there were few investigations or prosecutions of these crimes.”
The sub-titles are Boko Haram violence, inter-communal and political violence, conduct of security forces, government corruption, violence and poverty in the oil-producing Niger Delta, health and human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity, freedom of expression and media and key international actors.
The report reads in part,”Horrific abuses in the North by the militant Islamist group, Boko Haram and the Nigerian security forces’ heavy-handed response to this violence dominated Nigeria’s human rights landscape in 2013.
“In May, President Goodluck Jonathan imposed a state of emergency, which was extended for another three months in November in the three states where Boko Haram is most active. The emergency failed to curb atrocities and to sufficiently protect civilians.
“The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said that there was reason to believe Boko Haram had committed crimes against humanity.
“More than 400 people died in 2013 from violent inter-communal conflict in the Middle Belt states and scores rendered homeless from the clashes.
“Security forces throughout the country engaged in human rights abuses. There were few investigations or prosecutions of these crimes.
“The judiciary remained nominally free from interference and pressures from other branches of government, but corruption did impede pursuit of justice. Poverty and corruption continued to afflict the oil-rich Niger Delta, while the weakness of anti-corruption institutions in government inhibited the realisation of social and economic rights and the fair and transparent functioning of the public and private sectors.” Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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